The incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism in COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit: a meta-analysis and meta-regression of observational studies

OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is associated with a prothrombotic state. We performed a meta-analysis of proportions to estimate the weighted average incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) in COVID-19 patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: We searched various medical databases for relevant studies from 31 December 2019 till 30 September 2020. We included observational studies that reported the incidence of PTE in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. We extracted data related to study characteristics, patient demographics, and the incidence of PTE. Risk of bias was assessed by using the ROBINS-I tool. Statistical analysis was performed with R 3.6.3. RESULTS: We included 14 studies with a total of 1182 patients in this study. Almost all patients in this meta-analysis received at least prophylactic anticoagulation. The weighted average incidence of PTE was 11.1% (95% CI 7.7% to 15.7%, I(2) = 78%, Cochran’s Q test P < 0.01). We performed univariate and multivariate meta-regression, which identified the proportion of males as a significant source of heterogeneity (P = 0.03, 95% CI 0.00 to − 0.09) CONCLUSION: The weighted average incidence of PTE remains high even after prophylactic anticoagulation. PTE is a significant complication of COVID-19 especially in critically ill patients in the ICU. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40560-021-00535-x.