Pre-hospital antiplatelet therapy linked to lower COVID-19 death ratesPre-hospital antiplatelet therapy, most commonly aspirin, was associated with significantly lower in-hospital mortality rates for COVID-19 patients, according to a study this week in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.The researchers matched 6,781 COVID-19 US patients who received antiplatelet therapy before hospital admission with 10,566 who did not receive antiplatelet therapy from February to September 2020.
In this 1:1.6 ratio, data showed that those who received antiplatelet therapy had an in-hospital mortality rate of 18.9%, whereas those in the control group had a 21.5% in-hospital mortality rate (hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.76 to 0.87).