Antiplatelet/anticoagulant agents for preventing thrombosis events in patients with severe COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: On March 11, 2020, World Health Organization announced that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 caused COVID-19 was a global pandemic. COVID-19 is associated with venous thromboembolism including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. To further identify the current role of antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy in the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19 patients is important. METHODS: We will conduct a systematic review based on searches of major databases (eg, Pubmed, Web of Science, EMBASE, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, SCI-EXPANDED, CPCI-S, CBM, CNKI, and Wanfang Database) and clinical trial registries from inception to present without limitations of language and publication status. All published randomized control trials, quasi-randomized trials, retrospective and observational studies related to prophylactic antiplatelet/anticoagulant for severe COVID-19 will be included. Primary outcome includes incident acute thrombosis events. Second outcome is the incidence and severity of adverse effects. Full-text screening, data extraction and quality assessment will be conducted by 2 reviewers independently. The reporting quality, risk of bias, sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis will be performed to ensure the reliability of our findings by other 2 researchers. The statistical analysis will be performed by RevMan V.5.3 software and Stata V.12.0 software. RESULTS: The result of this systematic review will provide valid advice and consultation for clinicians on the management of prophylactic antiplatelet/anticoagulant for severe COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: This systematic review will provide evidence for prophylactic antiplatelet/anticoagulant of severe COVID-19 patients. PROSPERO REGISTRATION: CRD42020186928.