COVID-19 Outcomes and Cardiovascular Events

Our primary outcome of interest was death attributable to COVID-19. We defined COVID-19 attributable deaths as those coded as U07.1 or U07.2 in ONS data. In a sensitivity analysis we explored broadening our primary outcome of death attributable to COVID-19 to all-cause death which occurred within 28 days of the individual's diagnosis (based on test result among those with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 or consultation date for those with clinically reported COVID-19). Our secondary outcomes were hospitalisation due to COVID-19 (defined by COVID-19 in the primary diagnosis field of any episode recorded in HES APC or presence in CHESS dataset), ICU admission due to COVID-19 (defined by ICU admission recorded in CHESS), need for respiratory support due to COVID-19 (defined by mechanical ventilation recorded in CHESS), or major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE [composite of acute coronary syndrome which included myocardial infarction and unstable angina, ischaemic stroke, acute left ventricular failure, or major ventricular arrhythmia recorded in CPRD or HES APC]). These definitions were informed by a systematic review of the validity of cardiovascular event recording in electronic health records.¹⁹ (link)