Effectiveness and Safety of Enoxaparin Versus Unfractionated Heparin as Thromboprophylaxis in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Real-World Evidence.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) patients are at risk of thrombosis. Literature that compares the effectiveness of enoxaparin to unfractionated heparin (UFH) in COVID-19 patients is scarce. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of enoxaparin compared with UFH when used at their standard/intermediate dosing in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective study conducted at a large COVID-19 center located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Confirmed COVID-19 cases (≥18 years old) admitted between January and December 2020 were randomly screened for inclusion. Exclusion criteria were patients receiving therapeutic anticoagulation, on chronic anticoagulation, had active bleeding, a platelet count <25 × 109/L, or an incomplete electronic file. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of any thrombotic event (pulmonary embolism, deep venous thrombosis, stroke, or myocardial infarction) or mortality. Secondary endpoints were major or minor bleeding. We applied inverse propensity score weighting (IPTW) with survival analysis to analyze the primary endpoint. Logistic regression was used for the secondary endpoint. RESULTS: A total of 980 patients were included (enoxaparin, n = 470 and UFH, n = 510) with a mean age (±SD) of 47.7 (± 12.3) for the enoxaparin arm and 52 (±13.9) for the UFH arm. There was a statistically significant difference in the primary endpoint with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 0.46 (95%CI: 0.22 to 0.96, P = 0.039) in favor of the enoxaparin arm. There was no statistically significant difference in major or minor bleeding rates between the two arms. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: When compared with UFH, enoxaparin was associated with a significant reduction in thrombotic events or mortality among COVID-19 patients. The results need confirmation from randomized controlled trials.

Adult onset Still's disease with dermatopathic lymphadenopathy.

Adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder involving multiple systems. The symptoms mimic those of lymphomas, therefore, the diagnosis of lymphoma needs to be excluded prior to establishing the diagnosis of AOSD. Another similar condition is dermatopathic lymphadenopathy (DL). In DL, the histopathological appearance of lymph node biopsy may also mimic AOSD. The DL is associated with several systemic pathologies, such as malignant lymphomas, and rarely AOSD. We present a case of a 43-year-old male presented with 3 months history of fatigue, fever, and lymphadenopathy. Initial work-up satisfactorily met the criteria for diagnosis of AOSD. But considering the well-known association of DL with hematological malignancies, detailed pathological studies were considered, including tumor markers to rule out  the possibility of malignancy. The patient was started on steroids and showed remarkable recovery within 2 weeks. Evaluation of malignant lymphomas in a patient with DL is important, in order to diagnose AOSD and rule out hematological malignancy.