{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,23]],"date-time":"2026-08-23T14:58:09Z","timestamp":1787497089959,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,5]],"date-time":"2025-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759622400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Victor Babe\u0219 University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timi\u0219oara, Romania"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.mdpi.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a severe complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), particularly in hospitalized patients. Data from Eastern Europe, including Romania, are limited, despite potential regional differences in demographics, comorbidities, and thromboprophylaxis practices. (2) Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 395 adults hospitalized with RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 at the \u201cVictor Babe\u0219\u201d Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases and Pneumophthisiology, Timi\u0219oara, Romania, from September 2022 to December 2024. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and imaging data were extracted from medical records. PE was confirmed by computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA). Group comparisons used chi-square and t-tests, with multivariable logistic regression to identify independent PE predictors. (3) Results: PE was diagnosed in 47 patients (11.9%). Compared to those without PE, patients with PE had higher D-dimer (5305.00 \u00b1 1251.00 vs. 537.00 \u00b1 203.00 ng\/mL, p &lt; 0.001), fibrinogen (6.33 \u00b1 0.74 vs. 3.51 \u00b1 0.60 g\/L, p &lt; 0.001), and PT\/INR (1.68 \u00b1 0.21 vs. 1.05 \u00b1 0.09, p &lt; 0.001). Prior venous thromboembolism (VTE; 19.1% vs. 8.3%, p = 0.03) and prolonged immobilization (61.7% vs. 23.0%, p &lt; 0.001) were significant risk factors. Intensive care unit (ICU) transfer occurred in 59.6% of PE cases, with a 25.5% in-hospital mortality rate. All PE patients received anticoagulation; 10.6% underwent thrombolysis. (4) Conclusions: In this Romanian cohort, one of the first large-scale studies in Eastern Europe, PE was prevalent among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, associated with elevated coagulation markers, identifiable risk factors, and high mortality. Early recognition and optimized thromboprophylaxis are critical to improve outcomes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v17101342","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]],"date-time":"2025-10-06T08:10:51Z","timestamp":1759738251000},"page":"1342","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Pulmonary Embolism in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Romania: Prevalence, Risk Factors, Outcomes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-4951-1702","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diana-Maria","family":"Mateescu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, Doctoral School, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adrian-Cosmin","family":"Ilie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Sanitary Management, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ioana","family":"Cotet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, Doctoral School, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Guse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, Doctoral School, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-3896-9599","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Camelia-Oana","family":"Muresan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Legal Medicine, Timisoara Institute of Legal Medicine, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Ethics and Human Identification Research Center, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Discipline of Forensic Medicine, Bioethics, Deontology, and Medical Law, Department of Neuroscience, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ana-Maria","family":"Pah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marius","family":"Badalica-Petrescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stela","family":"Iurciuc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria-Laura","family":"Craciun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-7868-9266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adina","family":"Avram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine I, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandra","family":"Enache","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Legal Medicine, Timisoara Institute of Legal Medicine, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Ethics and Human Identification Research Center, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Discipline of Forensic Medicine, Bioethics, Deontology, and Medical Law, Department of Neuroscience, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"844","DOI":"10.1111\/jth.14768","article-title":"Abnormal coagulation parameters are associated with poor prognosis in patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia","volume":"18","author":"Tang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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