ISTH Academy

Abstract
I read with interest the study by Tang and colleagues, published March 27, 2020, entitled “Anticoagulant treatment is associated with decreased mortality in severe coronavirus disease patients with coagulopathy.” Unfortunately, this retrospective study came to conclusions that are inaccurate with the information provided. The authors use of the word “therapy” implies that patients were given therapeutic doses of anticoagulants, however, doses appear to be most consistent with prophylaxis dosing. The authors report that 94 patients received enoxaparin at 40‐60mg/day. They did not specify the route of administration, subcutaneous (SC) or intravenous (IV), nor did they specify the percentage of patients that received which dose. The 40mg per day dose of enoxaparin given SC is the prophylactic dose. The 60mg per day IV dose would be therapeutic for patients weighing 40kg, not a typical weight for an adult patient.