Elevation of D-Dimer, But Not PT and aPTT, Reflects the Progression of COVID-19 Toward an Unfavorable Outcome: A Meta-Analysis

Background: coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated as covid-19) is a mysterious respiratory syndrome symptomatically spanning from healthy carriers to patients with life-threatening complications, in some cases, leading to a mournful death. for the time being, the contributory role of hematologists is much more recognized in the management of covid-19, since the emergence of coagulopathy has recently been the focus of many studies in sars-cov-2 infection. methods: to provide a well-conceptualized viewpoint demonstrating the prognostic value of coagulation-related laboratory tests, we planned to perform a meta-analysis of pertinent literature representing information on pt, aptt, and d-dimer tests in patients with covid-19. results: albeit the estimated pooled means of pt and aptt were higher in severe cases, their mean values were not significantly higher as compared with patients in a non-severe condition. on the other hand, the mean value of d-dimer in severe patients was significantly higher than non-severe cases (x2=6.34, p=0.01), highlighting that the elevation of this parameter may be associated with the progression of the disease toward an unfavorable clinical outcome. conclusion: even though at the time of writing this article the lack of adequate and appropriate studies denotes a major limitation to the current study, planning for the future research to determine the prognostic value of laboratory tests reflecting sars-cov-2-induced coagulopathy, mainly d-dimer, will definitively cast a flash of light on the significance of therapeutic anticoagulation at least for those with no absolute contraindication.