Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul;28(4):373-381.
doi: 10.1007/s40292-021-00454-w. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Short-Term Consequences of SARS-CoV-2-Related Pneumonia: A Follow Up Study

Gianluca E M Boari  1 , Silvia Bonetti  1   2 , Federico Braglia-Orlandini  1   2 , Giulia Chiarini  1   2 , Cristina Faustini  1   2 , Gianluca Bianco  1   2 , Marzia Santagiuliana  1   2 , Vittoria Guarinoni  1 , Michele Saottini  1 , Sara Viola  1 , Giulia Ferrari-Toninelli  1 , Giancarlo Pasini  1 , Bianca Bonzi  1 , Paolo Desenzani  1 , Claudia Tusi  1 , Paolo Malerba  1   2 , Eros Zanotti  1 , Daniele Turini  1 , Damiano Rizzoni  3   4   5
Affiliations

Short-Term Consequences of SARS-CoV-2-Related Pneumonia: A Follow Up Study

Gianluca E M Boari et al. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the short-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2-related pneumonia, also in relation to radiologic/laboratory/clinical indices of risk at baseline. This prospective follow-up cohort study included 94 patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to a medical ward at the Montichiari Hospital, Brescia, Italy from February 28th to April 30th, 2020. Patients had COVID-19 related pneumonia with respiratory failure. Ninety-four patients out of 193 survivors accepted to be re-evaluated after discharge, on average after 4 months. In ¼ of the patients an evidence of pulmonary fibrosis was detected, as indicated by an altered diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO); in 6-7% of patients the alteration was classified as of moderate/severe degree. We also evaluated quality of life thorough a structured questionnaire: 52% of the patients still lamented fatigue, 36% effort dyspnea, 10% anorexia, 14% dysgeusia or anosmia, 31% insomnia and 21% anxiety. Finally, we evaluated three prognostic indices (the Brixia radiologic score, the Charlson Comorbidity Index and the 4C mortality score) in terms of prediction of the clinical consequences of the disease. All of them significantly predicted the extent of short-term lung involvement. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2-related pneumonia is associated to relevant short-term clinical consequences, both in terms of persistence of symptoms and in terms of impairment of DLCO (indicator of a possible development of pulmonary fibrosis); some severity indices of the disease may predict short-term clinical outcome. Further studies are needed to ascertain whether such manifestations may persist long-term.

Keywords: COVID-19; Interstitial lung disease; Lung fibrosis; Prognostic factors; SARS-CoV2; Sequelae.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Brixia radiologic score (at hospital admission and at follow up, top panel), Charlson Comorbidity Index (absolute values and predicted 10 years survival: middle panel) and 4C score (bottom panel) in patients with normal (n = 57, empty bars) or abnormal (n = 37, full bars) DLCO (% of predicted). One-way ANOVA: * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boari GEM, Chiarini G, Bonetti S, Malerba P, Bianco G, Faustini C, Braglia-Orlandini F, Turini D, Guarinoni V, Saottini M, Viola S, Ferrari-Toninelli G, Pasini G, Mascadri C, Bonzi B, Desenzani P, Tusi C, Zanotti E, Nardin M, Rizzoni D. Prognostic factors and predictors of outcome in patients with COVID-19 and related pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study. Biosci Rep. 2020;40(12):BSR20203455. doi: 10.1042/BSR20203455. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shah AS, Wong AW, Hague CJ, Murphy DT, Johnston JC, Ryerson CJ, Carlsten C. A prospective study of 12-week respiratory outcomes in COVID-19-related hospitalisations. Thorax. 2020:thoraxjnl-2020-216308. - PubMed
    1. Huang Y, Tan C, Wu J, Chen M, Wang Z, Luo L, Zhou X, Liu X, Huang X, Yuan S, Chen C, Gao F, Huang J, Shan H, Liu J. Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on pulmonary function in early convalescence phase. Respir Res. 2020;21(1):163. doi: 10.1186/s12931-020-01429-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Picchi G, Mari A, Ricciardi A, Carucci AC, Sinatti G, Cosimini B, Di Norcia M, Iapadre N, Balsano C, Grimaldi A. Three cases of COVID-19 pneumonia in female patients in Italy who had pulmonary fibrosis on follow-up lung computed tomography imaging. Am J Case Rep. 2020;21:e926921. doi: 10.12659/AJCR.926921. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deng L, Khan A, Zhou W, Dai Y, Eftekhar M, Chen R, Cheng G. Follow-up study of clinical and chest CT scans in confirmed COVID-19 patients. Radiol Infect Dis. 2020;7:106–113. doi: 10.1016/j.jrid.2020.07.002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms