The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Need for an Integrated and Equitable Approach: An International Expert Consensus Paper.

BACKGROUND: One year after the declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and despite the implementation of mandatory physical barriers and social distancing, humanity remains challenged by a long-lasting and devastating public health crisis. MANAGEMENT: Non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) are efficient mitigation strategies. The success of these NPIs is dependent on the approval and commitment of the population. The launch of a mass vaccination program in many countries in late December 2020 with mRNA vaccines, adenovirus-based vaccines, and inactivated virus vaccines has generated hope for the end of the pandemic. CURRENT ISSUES: The continuous appearance of new pathogenic viral strains and the ability of vaccines to prevent infection and transmission raise important concerns as we try to achieve community immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants. The need of a second and even third generation of vaccines has already been acknowledged by the WHO and governments. PERSPECTIVES: There is a critical and urgent need for a balanced and integrated strategy for the management of the COVID-19 outbreaks organized on three axes: (1) Prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, (2) Detection and early diagnosis of patients at risk of disease worsening, and (3) Anticipation of medical care (PDA). CONCLUSION: The "PDA strategy" integrated into state policy for the support and expansion of health systems and introduction of digital organizations (i.e., telemedicine, e-Health, artificial intelligence, and machine-learning technology) is of major importance for the preservation of citizens' health and life world-wide.

Derivation and Validation of a Predictive Score for Disease Worsening in Patients with COVID-19.

The prospective observational cohort study COMPASS-COVID-19 aimed to develop a risk assessment model for early identification of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at risk for worsening disease. Patients with confirmed COVID-19 (n = 430) hospitalized between March 18 and April 21, 2020 were divided in derivation (n = 310) and validation (n = 120) cohorts. Two groups became evident: (1) good prognosis group (G-group) with patients hospitalized at the conventional COVID-19 ward and (2) Worsening disease group (W-group) with patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from the emergency departments. The study end point was disease worsening (acute respiratory failure, shock, myocardial dysfunction, bacterial or viral coinfections, and acute kidney injury) requiring ICU admission. All patients were routinely evaluated for full blood count, prothrombin time, fibrinogen, D-dimers, antithrombin (AT), and protein C activity. Data from the first hospitalization day at the conventional ward or the ICU were analyzed. Cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities were routinely registered. Obesity, hypertension, diabetes and male gender, increased fibrinogen and D-dimers, thrombocytopenia, AT deficiency, lymphopenia, and an International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) score for compensated disseminated intravascular coagulation score (cDIC-ISTH) ≥5 were significant risk factors for worsening disease. The COMPASS-COVID-19 score was derived from multivariate analyses and includes obesity, gender, hemoglobin, lymphocyte, and the cDIC-ISTH score (including platelet count, prothrombin time, D-dimers, AT, and protein C levels). The score has a very good discriminating capacity to stratify patients at high and low risk for worsening disease, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value of 0.77, a sensitivity of 81%, and a specificity of 60%. Application of the COMPASS-COVID-19 score at the validation cohort showed 96% sensitivity. The COMPASS-COVID-19 score is an accurate clinical decision-making tool for an easy identification of COVID-19 patients being at high risk for disease worsening.

Guidance for the Management of Patients with Vascular Disease or Cardiovascular Risk Factors and COVID-19: Position Paper from VAS-European Independent Foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine.

COVID-19 is also manifested with hypercoagulability, pulmonary intravascular coagulation, microangiopathy, and venous thromboembolism (VTE) or arterial thrombosis. Predisposing risk factors to severe COVID-19 are male sex, underlying cardiovascular disease, or cardiovascular risk factors including noncontrolled diabetes mellitus or arterial hypertension, obesity, and advanced age. The VAS-European Independent Foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine draws attention to patients with vascular disease (VD) and presents an integral strategy for the management of patients with VD or cardiovascular risk factors (VD-CVR) and COVID-19. VAS recommends (1) a COVID-19-oriented primary health care network for patients with VD-CVR for identification of patients with VD-CVR in the community and patients' education for disease symptoms, use of eHealth technology, adherence to the antithrombotic and vascular regulating treatments, and (2) close medical follow-up for efficacious control of VD progression and prompt application of physical and social distancing measures in case of new epidemic waves. For patients with VD-CVR who receive home treatment for COVID-19, VAS recommends assessment for (1) disease worsening risk and prioritized hospitalization of those at high risk and (2) VTE risk assessment and thromboprophylaxis with rivaroxaban, betrixaban, or low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for those at high risk. For hospitalized patients with VD-CVR and COVID-19, VAS recommends (1) routine thromboprophylaxis with weight-adjusted intermediate doses of LMWH (unless contraindication); (2) LMWH as the drug of choice over unfractionated heparin or direct oral anticoagulants for the treatment of VTE or hypercoagulability; (3) careful evaluation of the risk for disease worsening and prompt application of targeted antiviral or convalescence treatments; (4) monitoring of D-dimer for optimization of the antithrombotic treatment; and (5) evaluation of the risk of VTE before hospital discharge using the IMPROVE-D-dimer score and prolonged post-discharge thromboprophylaxis with rivaroxaban, betrixaban, or LMWH.