The association of COVID-19 with increased pediatric ventriculoatrial shunt failures: a national retrospective cohort.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors' institution managed ventriculoatrial (VA) shunt complications in 2 teenage patients in close proximity to a symptomatic COVID-19 infection. Systemic thrombotic events are an established complication of COVID-19 infection due to a hypercoagulable state. Thrombotic complications, particularly elevated central venous pressure, can cause VA shunt failure. The true effect of COVID-19 on patients with intravascular devices is currently unknown. In this study, the authors aimed to determine if there was an association between COVID-19 infection and VA shunt failure. TriNetX, an aggregated electronic health record platform, was used to analyze data of more than 13 million US pediatric patients. Two matched cohorts of patients < 18 years of age with a VA shunt were defined. Group 1 (n = 311) had a positive laboratory test for COVID-19 from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022. Group 2 (n = 311), a control group, had any medical appointment from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022, and never had a positive laboratory test for COVID-19. The authors analyzed outcomes 1 year after testing positive for COVID-19 in group 1, and after the medical appointment in group 2. Outcomes included shunt complications, shunt revisions or replacements, and thromboembolic complications. To protect patient privacy, individual results of fewer than 10 patients are not specified in TriNetX. Group 1 had a greater odds of mechanical shunt complication than group 2 (20% vs 4%, OR 5.71, 95% CI 3.07-10.62). Group 1 had a greater odds of shunt reoperation than group 2 (11% vs < 3%, OR > 3.7, 95% CI 1.72-7.62). There were 1-10 patients in group 1 (≤ 3% of group 1) who experienced a thromboembolism due to the shunt, compared with no patients in group 2 who had a thromboembolism due to the shunt. This analysis demonstrates an association of shunt complications, reoperations, and thromboembolic events in patients with VA shunts following COVID-19 infection.