Vascular skin manifestations in patients with severe COVID-19 in intensive care units: a monocentric prospective study

Background Various skin manifestations have been reported during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Among these are acral vascular skin lesions in non-severe patients, but few studies have focused specifically on patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Objectives We aimed to assess the frequency of acral vascular skin manifestations (AVSM) in patients admitted to the ICU based on systematic dermatological examination. Materials & Methods We conducted a clinical, observational and prospective study in the ICU of Lille University Hospital (France). All adult patients with RT-PCR-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were included on May 5 th and 6 th , 2020. Results A total of 39 patients with severe COVID-19 were examined (34 males and five females; median age: 61 [55–59]). We observed AVSM in 11/39 patients (28%) including five with acral necrotic lesions, three with haemorrhagic blisters, one with acral live-doid rash, and one with erosive distal lesions. Chilblain or chilblain-like lesions were not seen, unlike ambulatory or non-severe patients described in the literature. There was no difference regarding the median length of stay in the ICU, initial symptoms of COVID-19 or baseline characteristics, except for a lower BMI in patients with AVSM. All patients had biological coagulation abnormalities ( e.g. higher levels of fibrinogen or D-dimers), but there was no difference between patients with and without AVSM. Conclusion AVSM are infrequent and heterogenous and seem to be non-specific to patients with severe SARS-CoV-2, and possibly unrelated to COVID-19. The pathophysiology of AVSM described during the COVID-19 pandemic is not fully elucidated.