A new study has found that Covid-19 positive patients are prone to serious blood clotting that is abnormally broken down by the body, causing increased bleeding risk.

When blood clots are created, the body's innate response is to break the clots down to prevent significant health problems. However, some serious blood clotting remains unbreakable, and the body uses extra force to break them. This can lead to severe bleeding.

This raises concerns about the current practice of giving Covid-19 patients high dose anticoagulants throughout the duration of their disease.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was led by senior author Daniel Lawrence, Ph.D., a Professor of Basic Research in Cardiovascular Medicine at Michigan Medicine.

The authors of the study found that aside from this heightened clotting risk in some Covid-19 is linked to a potential clinical biomarker seen in later stages of the disease.

First author Yu (Ray) Zuo, M.D., M.S.C.S., a rheumatologist at Michigan Medicine, said: "Pathological blood clotting in COVID-19 patients has been studied extensively, but recognizing and addressing the high bleeding risk in a subgroup of patients is equally important."

Zuo, Lawrence, and their colleagues sought to understand the balance between COVID-19 coagulation and the breakdown of clots to help inform approaches to treatment.

For the study, the researchers included 118 Covid-19 patients and 30 healthy controls.

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