Article Text
Abstract
We conducted a prospective single-centre cohort study of 104 multi-ethnic severe COVID-19 survivors from the first wave of the pandemic 15 months after hospitalisation. Of those who were assessed at 4 and 15 months, improvement of ground glass opacities correlated with worsened fibrotic reticulations. Despite a high prevalence of fibrotic patterns (64%), pulmonary function, grip strength, 6 min walk distance and frailty normalised. Overall, dyspnoea, cough and exhaustion did not improve and were not correlated with pulmonary function or radiographic fibrosis at 15 months, suggesting non-respiratory aetiologies. Monitoring persistent, and often subclinical, fibrotic interstitial abnormalities will be needed to determine their potential for future progression.
- COVID-19
- interstitial fibrosis
- clinical epidemiology
- imaging/CT MRI
- respiratory measurement
- viral infection
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Footnotes
MRB and CKG are joint senior authors.
X @Claire_McGroder
Contributors CFMcG, MRB and CKG conceptualised the study. CFMcG recruited patients and collected samples and clinical data. MS, BD'S and EAH analysed imaging studies. CFMcG, MRB and CKG performed statistical analysis. CFMcG, MRB and CKG wrote the manuscript.
Funding This work was supported by the NIH (R01HL103676, R01HL093096 to CKG; T32HL105323 to CFMcG; UL1TR001873 to MRB) and the Department of Defense (PR202907 to CKG and MRB).
Competing interests MS reports relationships with Boehringer Ingelheim, Genetech, Peer View, France Foundation, Bioclinica, AbbVie and Lung Life AI outside the scope of this study. EAH reports a relationship with VIDA Diagnostics. CKG reports a relationship with Boehringer Ingelheim outside the scope of this study.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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