Clinical and functional status of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia: an observational study at 2-3 months following discharge.
Inmaculada Castillo Sánchez, Julia Tárrega Camarasa, Enric Barbeta Sánchez and 1 others
PMID 37671070WHAT IT FOUND
Two to three months after severe COVID-19 pneumonia, some survivors had abnormal lung ultrasound, the average walk distance was 439.9 m (64.7% of expected distance), and some had reduced lung volumes, while sit-to-stand and quality of life were near normal.
Key findings
01Lung ultrasound at follow-up showed large consolidations in 21 patients, mild alterations in 5, and normal patterns in 28. Four patients were assessed by CT instead.
02The average 6-minute walk distance was 439.9 meters (64.7% predicted), and 32 patients (55.1%) had desaturation larger than 3%.
03Compared with normal lung ultrasound, abnormal lung ultrasound had lower FVC% predicted (77.4 vs 95.0) and FEV1% predicted (85.5 vs 103.4), and lower diaphragm movement during deep breathing (4.7 cm vs 5.6 cm).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This was a single-center retrospective study with 58 patients, so the results may not apply to other hospitals or regions. Patients were recruited by convenience sampling, and those who did not attend follow-up were excluded, so the results apply only to survivors who came to the visit. There were no pre-COVID-19 baseline tests, so the study cannot show how much change was caused by the illness. Follow-up was only 2-3 months after discharge, so it does not show later recovery or decline. Most patients were male (67.2%), so findings may be less certain for female survivors. Four patients were assessed by CT instead of lung ultrasound, so the lung ultrasound comparison does not include the whole sample.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that survivors had fully recovered because sit-to-stand and quality-of-life scores were near normal. The study still found large consolidations in 21 patients, mild lung alterations in 5, and an average walk distance of 439.9 m (64.7% of expected distance), and it had no pre-illness baseline data.