Impact of COVID-19 on vascular patients worldwide: analysis of the COVIDSurg data

COVIDSurg Collaborative, Vascular and Endovascular Research Network (VERN) Collaborators, L Hitchman*, M Machin, Sam D J Lawday

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background:
The COVIDSurg collaborative was an international multicenter prospective analysis of perioperative data from 235 hospitals in 24 countries. It found that perioperative COVID-19 infection was associated with a mortality rate of 24%. At the same time, the COVER study demonstrated similarly high perioperative mortality rates in vascular surgical patients undergoing vascular interventions even without COVID-19, likely associated with the high burden of comorbidity associated with vascular patients. This is a vascular subgroup analysis of the COVIDSurg cohort.

Methods:
All patients with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in the 7 days prior to, or in the 30 days following a vascular procedure were included. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were pulmonary complications (adult respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia and respiratory failure). Logistic regression was undertaken for dichotomous outcomes.

Results:
Overall, 602 patients were included in this subgroup analysis, of which 88.4% were emergencies. The most common operations performed were for vascular-related dialysis access procedures (20.1%, N.=121). The combined 30-day mortality rate was 27.2%. Composite secondary pulmonary outcomes occurred in half of the vascular patients (N.=275, 45.7%).

Conclusion:
Mortality following vascular surgery in COVID positive patients was significantly higher than levels reported pre-pandemic, and similar to that seen in other specialties in the COVIDSurg cohort. Initiatives and surgical pathways that ensure vascular patients are protected from exposure to COVID-19 in the peri-operative period are vital to protect against excess mortality.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)558-570
Number of pages13
JournalThe Journal of cardiovascular surgery
Volume62
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA.

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