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  • Patient outcomes after hospitalisation with COVID-19 and implications for follow-up: results from a prospective UK cohort

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Brief communication
Patient outcomes after hospitalisation with COVID-19 and implications for follow-up: results from a prospective UK cohort
  1. David T Arnold1,
  2. Fergus W Hamilton1,
  3. Alice Milne1,
  4. Anna J Morley1,
  5. Jason Viner1,
  6. Marie Attwood2,
  7. Alan Noel2,
  8. Samuel Gunning1,
  9. Jessica Hatrick1,
  10. Sassa Hamilton1,
  11. Karen T Elvers3,
  12. Catherine Hyams1,
  13. Anna Bibby1,
  14. Ed Moran1,
  15. Huzaifa I Adamali1,
  16. James William Dodd1,
  17. Nicholas A Maskell1,
  18. Shaney L Barratt1
  1. 1 Academic Respiratory Unit, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
  2. 2 Bristol Centre for Antimicrobial Research (BCARE), North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
  3. 3 Medicines Discovery Institute Cardiff, Cardiff University, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nicholas A Maskell, Academic Respiratory Unit, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK; Nick.Maskell{at}bristol.ac.uk

Abstract

The longer-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection are uncertain. Consecutive patients hospitalised with COVID-19 were prospectively recruited to this observational study (n=163). At 8–12 weeks postadmission, survivors were invited to a systematic clinical follow-up. Of 131 participants, 110 attended the follow-up clinic. Most (74%) had persistent symptoms (notably breathlessness and excessive fatigue) and limitations in reported physical ability. However, clinically significant abnormalities in chest radiograph, exercise tests, blood tests and spirometry were less frequent (35%), especially in patients not requiring supplementary oxygen during their acute infection (7%). Results suggest that a holistic approach focusing on rehabilitation and general well-being is paramount.

  • respiratory infection
  • viral infection
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-216086

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    Footnotes

    • DTA and FWH are joint first authors.

    • Twitter @gushamilton, @cathyams, @theotherdodd

    • Contributors DTA, SLB, NAM, JWD and FWH generated the research question and analysis plan. AM, AJM, MA, AN, CH, AB, EM, HA, JWD, NAM, DTA, FWH were involved in data collection and clinical appointments. SG, JH, SH and KTE were involved in data analysis. All authors were involved in the final manuscript preparation.

    • Funding The DISCOVER study was supported by donations to Southmead Hospital Charity (Registered Charity Number: 1055900).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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