Retrospective analysis of aspirin's role in the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia

Abstract

BACKGROUND Since December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome - coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to a life-threatening ongoing pandemic worldwide. A retrospective study by Chow et al showed aspirin use was associated with decreased intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Recently, the RECOVERY TRIAL showed no associated reductions in the 28-d mortality or the progression to mechanical ventilation of such patients. With these conflicting findings, our study was aimed at evaluating the impact of daily aspirin intake on the outcome of COVID-19 patients. AIM To study was aimed at evaluating the impact of daily aspirin intake on the outcome of COVID-19 patients. METHODS This retrospective cohort study was conducted on 125 COVID-19 positive patients. Subgroup analysis to evaluate the association of demographics and comorbidities was undertaken. The impact of chronic aspirin use was assessed on the survival outcomes, need for mechanical ventilation, and progression to ICU. Variables were evaluated using the chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS 125 patients were studied, 30.40% were on daily aspirin, and 69.60% were not. Cross-tabulation of the clinical parameters showed that hypertension ( P = 0.004), hyperlipidemia (0.016), and diabetes mellitus ( P = 0.022) were significantly associated with aspirin intake. Regression analysis for progression to the ICU, need for mechanical ventilation and survival outcomes against daily aspirin intake showed no statistical significance. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that daily aspirin intake has no protective impact on COVID-19 illness-associated survival outcomes, mechanical ventilation, or progression to ICU level of care.

Associations between the use of aspirin or other antiplatelet drugs and all-cause mortality among patients with COVID-19: A meta-analysis

“…Data were abstracted by four authors (WS, HM, ZG, and QC) from 34 studies, ( Abu-Jamous et al, 2020 ; Alamdari et al, 2020 ; Giacomelli et al, 2020 ; Lodigiani et al, 2020 ; Russo et al, 2020 ; Sahai et al, 2020 ; Tremblay et al, 2020 ; Chow et al, 2021a ; Chow et al, 2021b ; Connors et al, 2021 ; Fröhlich et al, 2021 ; Haji Aghajani et al, 2021 ; Ho et al, 2021 ; Kim et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2021 ; Meizlish et al, 2021 ; Merzon et al, 2021 ; Mura et al, 2021 ; Osborne et al, 2021 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Sisinni et al, 2021 ; Son et al, 2021 ; Xiang et al, 2021 ; Yuan et al, 2021 ; Zhao et al, 2021 ; Zhou et al, 2021 ; Al Harthi et al, 2022 ; Santoro et al, 2022a ; Chow et al, 2022 ; Formiga et al, 2022 ; Gogtay et al, 2022 ; RECOVERY Collaborative GroupAbbas et al, 2022 ; REMAP-CAP Writing Committee for the REMAP-CAP InvestigatorsBradbury et al, 2022 ; Sullerot et al, 2022 ), including three randomized controlled trials, ( Connors et al, 2021 ; RECOVERY Collaborative GroupAbbas et al, 2022 ; REMAP-CAP Writing Committee for the REMAP-CAP InvestigatorsBradbury et al, 2022 ), 27 retrospective studies, ( Abu-Jamous et al, 2020 ; Alamdari et al, 2020 ; Lodigiani et al, 2020 ; Russo et al, 2020 ; Sahai et al, 2020 ; Tremblay et al, 2020 ; Chow et al, 2021a ; Chow et al, 2021b ; Fröhlich et al, 2021 ; Haji Aghajani et al, 2021 ; Ho et al, 2021 ; Kim et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2021 ; Meizlish et al, 2021 ; Merzon et al, 2021 ; ...…”