Page 248 - Haematologica Vol. 107 - September 2022

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
models may, therefore, reflect different sources of risk. The importance of thrombosis risk assessment in COVID- 19 patients at hospital admission has been highlighted by a recent large observational study,15 where they determine that there is a profoundly increased rate of VTE within the first week following positive COVID-19 testing. With an AUC of 0.78 and good predictive values, the TiC score is an ex- cellent predictor of VTE risk at the time of hospital admis- sion. In fact, although all patients included in this cohort were receiving prophylactic treatment, the TiC model showed that 68.5% of patients that ended up having a VTE event may have benefited from more intense prophylaxis than they received. In addition, it should also be under- scored that the TiC model is easy to use; it takes into ac- count only 12 genetic variants plus clinical variables usually included in patient’s records.
The present work suffers from the limitation of a relatively small sample size (n=352). Also, the absence of VTE in the control patients was not confirmed diagnostically, although a validated D-Dimer threshold was used to identify them. Finally, all patients were admitted to the same hospital; the results need to be confirmed at other centers that treat other populations (although the TiC score has been vali- dated for use in a number of other populations) .5,6,7
In conclusion, the present work shows that the TiC score is useful in identifying patients with COVID-19 at high risk of VTE. It could therefore guide clinical decisions regarding the optimal intensity of anticoagulation treatment at hos- pital admission. Such personalized therapy could have a substantial impact on the morbidity and mortality of pa- tients with COVID-19.
Sant Pau; 3Clinical Trials Unit (AGDAC), Hematology Service, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, IIB Sant Pau; 4Clinical Pharmacology Service, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, IIB Sant Pau; 5Drug Research Center, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau, IIB-Sant Pau; 6Blood and Tissue Bank (BST) and 7Hematology Service, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, IIB Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence:
J.M. SORIA - jsoria@santpau.cat
https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2022.281068
Received: March 22, 2022. Accepted: May 5, 2022. Prepublished: May 12, 2022.
©2022 Ferrata Storti Foundation Published under a CC BY-NC license
Disclosures
No conflicts of interest to disclose.
Contributions
JMS and JCS supervised the study, wrote the paper, obtained funds; Sergi M performed analyses; AMP performed analyses and cleaned the database; FRA analyzed and cleaned the database; SL analysed samples; Sara M and DM designed the study design and collected data; MAQ and AR collected data; AC analyzed samples and collected data; FV and MRA designed and supervised the study.
Acknowledgments
The authors thanks GENinCode Plc (Oxford, UK) for providing the Thrombo inCode kit and reagents used in sample genotyping.
Funding
This work was funded by the Regional Government of Catalonia under grants SGR_1736 (to JMS), the CERCA Program, and the non- profit association Activa´TT por la Salud.
Data-sharing statement
PRECIS_project data are deposited in a national repository and can be shared on demand and with the corresponding approval of the IIB Sant Pau Ethics Committee.
3. Sadeghipour P, Talasaz AH, Rashidi F, et al. Effect of intermediate-dose vs standard-dose prophylactic anticoagulation on thrombotic events, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment, or mortality among patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit: the INSPIRATION randomized Clini. JAMA. 2021;325(16):1620-1630.
4. Souto JC, Almasy L, Borrell M, et al. Genetic susceptibility to
Authors
José Manuel Soria,1* Sergi Mojal,2 Angel Martinez-Perez,1 Francisco René Acosta,2 Sonia López,1 Sara Miqueleiz,3 Diana Rodriguez,3 Maria Angeles Quijada,4,5 Antonio Cardenas,1 Francisco Vidal,6 Angel Remacha,7 Rosa Maria Antonijoan4,5 and Juan Carlos Souto2
1Genomics of Complex Diseases Unit, Research Institute of Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, IIB Sant Pau; 2Hemostasis and Thrombosis Unit, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, IIB
References
1. Porfidia A, Valeriani E, Pola R, et al. Venous thromboembolism in patients with COVID-19: Systematic review and meta- analysis. Thromb Res. 2020;196:67-74.
2. Chi G, Lee JJ, Jamil A, et al. Venous thromboembolism among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 undergoing thromboprophylaxis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Med. 2020;9(8):2489.
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