Clinically Stable COVID-19 Patients Presenting to Acute Unscheduled Episodic Care Venues Have Increased Risk of Hospitalization: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Control Trial

Authors

Joseph Bledsoe
Scott C Woller
Maria Brooks
Frank C Sciurba
Jerry A Krishnan
Deborah Martin
Peter Hou
Janet Y Lin
Andrei Kindzelski
Eileen Handberg
Bridget-Anne Kirwan
Elaine Zaharris
Lauren Castro
Nancy L Shapiro
Carl J Pepine
Sarah Majercik
Zhuxuan Fu
Yongqi Zhong
Vidya Venugopal
Yu-Hsuan Lai
Paul M Ridker
Jean M Connors

Publication Date

5-15-2023

Journal

BMC Infectious Diseases

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Assessment for risks associated with acute stable COVID-19 is important to optimize clinical trial enrollment and target patients for scarce therapeutics. To assess whether healthcare system engagement location is an independent predictor of outcomes we performed a secondary analysis of the ACTIV-4B Outpatient Thrombosis Prevention trial.

METHODS: A secondary analysis of the ACTIV-4B trial that was conducted at 52 US sites between September 2020 and August 2021. Participants were enrolled through acute unscheduled episodic care (AUEC) enrollment location (emergency department, or urgent care clinic visit) compared to minimal contact (MC) enrollment (electronic contact from test center lists of positive patients).We report the primary composite outcome of cardiopulmonary hospitalizations, symptomatic venous thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, stroke, transient ischemic attack, systemic arterial thromboembolism, or death among stable outpatients stratified by enrollment setting, AUEC versus MC. A propensity score for AUEC enrollment was created, and Cox proportional hazards regression with inverse probability weighting (IPW) was used to compare the primary outcome by enrollment location.

RESULTS: Among the 657 ACTIV-4B patients randomized, 533 (81.1%) with known enrollment setting data were included in this analysis, 227 from AUEC settings and 306 from MC settings. In a multivariate logistic regression model, time from COVID test, age, Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and body mass index were associated with AUEC enrollment. Irrespective of trial treatment allocation, patients enrolled at an AUEC setting were 10-times more likely to suffer from the adjudicated primary outcome, 7.9% vs. 0.7%; p < 0.001, compared with patients enrolled at a MC setting. Upon Cox regression analysis adjustment patients enrolled at an AUEC setting remained at significant risk of the primary composite outcome, HR 3.40 (95% CI 1.46, 7.94).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with clinically stable COVID-19 presenting to an AUEC enrollment setting represent a population at increased risk of arterial and venous thrombosis complications, hospitalization for cardiopulmonary events, or death, when adjusted for other risk factors, compared with patients enrolled at a MC setting. Future outpatient therapeutic trials and clinical therapeutic delivery programs of clinically stable COVID-19 patients may focus on inclusion of higher-risk patient populations from AUEC engagement locations.

Keywords

Humans, COVID-19, Anticoagulants, Venous Thrombosis, Stroke, Hospitalization

Comments

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04498273

PMID: 37189091