Abstract: Objective To analyse short-term efficacy and safety of anticoagulant therapy in elderly patients with corona virus disease 2019. Methods The study included corona virus disease 2019 patients aged ≥ 80 years who were admitted to Qilu Hospital of Shandong University between December 2022 and August 2023. They were divided into anticoagulant and non-anticoagulant groups according to whether they received anticoagulant therapy. The bleeding events and clinical outcomes during hospitalisation were observed in the two groups. Results A total of 254 patients with an average age of 85 years were divided into the anticoagulant group(n=183)and the non-anticoagulant group(n=71). Compared with the non-anticoagulant group, there were more severe(45.90% vs. 30.99%, P<0.001)and critically ill(16.39% vs. 4.22%, P<0.001)patients in the anticoagulant group. Binary Logistic analysis showed that anticoagulant therapy(OR=9.224, 95%CI: 3.435-24.769)and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(OR=3.619, 95%CI: 1.696-7.723)were independent risk factors for bleeding events during hospitalisation. There were 33 deaths, of which, 32(96.97%)patients were classified as critically ill. After propensity score matching(PSM)to balance baseline characteristics, the incidence of bleeding events in the anticoagulant group was significantly higher than that in the non-anticoagulant group(40.85% vs. 8.45%, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between the two groups(4.22% vs. 4.22%, P>0.999). Conclusion Anticoagulant therapy does not reduce mortality in elderly patients with corona virus disease 2019 but result in more bleeding events.

Key words: Elderly, Corona virus disease 2019, Anticoagulant therapy, Bleeding, Mortality, Propensity score matching