A small lung functional imaging study shows that ventilation is impaired in patients with no history of lung disease recovering from noncritical COVID-19.
Study
A study was conducted to assess the prevalence and clinical relevance of ventilation (V) and perfusion (Q) impairment in individuals with no history of lung disease 4-weeks after recovery from noncritical COVID-19.
Study findings
Hospitalization and isolation
- that 9/25 post-COVID-19 patients were hospitalized and 16/25 of them were home isolated during acute infection
Ventilation defects
- 88% of the hospitalized vs. 44% of home-isolated participants of the post-COVID-19 groups vs. 30% in controls
Ventilatio- associated heterogeneity
- Greater in hospitalized (P = 0.003), but not home-isolated participants, compared to the never-COVID-19 controls
A correlation was established between post-COVID-19 ventilation-heterogeneity and the dyspnea-scale, SGRQ-score, 6MWD, SpO2, CT parenchymal opacities, and neutrophil percentage.
The study provides evidence for the presence of ventilation impairment in post-COVID-19 patients that had a positive relationship with parenchymal opacities, respiratory symptoms and exercise-capacity.
Reference: Venegas C, Marriott CJ, Ho T, et al. Presented in the Canadian Respiratory Conference, April 7-9, 2022.