- Some COVID-19 patients had abnormalities in blood clotting
- Severe cases of COVID-19 resulted in patients having elevated WBC levels, specifically D-dimer levels
- There is a strong association between elevated levels of D-dimer and death due to COVID-19, as the p-value came out to be 0.003
- ACE2 expression has been found in the brain, which could possibly lead to infection of brain tissue in COVID-19 patients


Michigan State University

In the study by Li et al., a majority of the 221 COVID-19 patients had ischemic infarcts in both small and large arterial vessels, and 13 (5.4%) had imaging-confirmed cerebrovascular disease. Another study by Oxley et al. reported 5 patients under age 50 with cerebrovascular disease and noted that even without presenting typical respiratory symptoms, young healthy patients with COVID-19 may experience large strokes. The 5 young patients were treated with either antiplatelet or anticoagulation.


Acute Cerebrovascular Disease in COVID-19 Patients

Larson, A. S., Savastano, L., Kadirvel, R., Kallmes, D. F., Hassan, A. E., & Brinjikji, W. (2020). COVID‐19 and the Cerebro‐Cardiovascular Systems: What do we Know so Far?. Journal of the American Heart Association, 9, e016793.

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