A retrospective study of adverse drug events in anticoagulant administration with relevance to COVID-19.

Initial studies in COVID-19 patients reported lower mortality rates associated with the use of the drug heparin, a widely used anticoagulant. The objective of this analysis was to determine whether there are adverse events associated with the administration of anticoagulants, and specifically how this might apply in patients known to have COVID-19. Data for this study were obtained from the Food and Drug Administration's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) public database and from the NIH's clinical trials website. Proportional Reporting Ratios (PRR) with lower 95% confidence intervals (lower CI) and empirical Bayes geometric mean (EBGM) scores with lower 95% confidence limits were calculated for data from the FAERS database where the adverse events studied mimicked COVID-19 symptoms.