Incidence of Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism following Panniculectomy in Patients with History of COVID-19.

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a well-documented postoperative complication and is potentially life-threatening. Recent research has elucidated that a history of COVID-19 may be a risk factor for VTE. The authors' study aimed to assess the risk of VTE in panniculectomy patients with a history of COVID-19. The TriNetX LLC National Health Research database was queried to identify patients who underwent panniculectomy in the years 2017 to 2020 (prepandemic) and 2020 to 2023 (postpandemic). Postpandemic patients were studied by querying those with and without a history of COVID-19. These cohorts were analyzed to calculate the incidence rate of VTE in the 30-day postoperative period. A total of 7114 patients who underwent panniculectomy on prophylactic anticoagulation were identified. There were 3015 patients in the prepandemic category and 4099 patients in the postpandemic group. Within the postpandemic classification, there were 790 patients with a history of COVID-19 and 3309 patients without. The rate of VTE was not significantly different in the prepandemic (3.2%) versus postpandemic (3.0%) cohorts ( P = 0.64). However, in the postpandemic cohort, there was a significant difference in VTE rates between patients with (4.9%) and without (2.5%) a history of COVID-19 ( P = 0.0002). There was no significant increase in VTE incidence after panniculectomy during the pandemic. In the patients identified with a history of COVID-19, we observed a significantly higher rate of VTE compared with those patients without. Seeing as its long-term morbidity effects are yet to be fully understood, a history of COVID-19 should be carefully considered when determining VTE risk. Risk. II.