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Long-term effects of COVID-19 on lungs and the clinical relevance: a 6-month prospective cohort study.

Gülşah TunçerCeyda Geyiktepe-GucluSerkan SürmeEvren Canel-KarakusHatice ErdoganOsman Faruk BayramlarCansu BelgeRidvan KarahasanogluBetul CopurMeltem YazlaEsra ZerdaliInci Y NakirNihal YildirimBedriye KarMediha BozkurtKubra KaranalbantBurcu AtasoyHindirin TakakSerap Simsek-YavuzRustu TurkayMehmet M SonmezGonul SengozFiliz Pehlivanoglu
Published in: Future microbiology (2023)
Background: We aimed to explore the prevalence of prolonged symptoms, pulmonary impairments and residual disease on chest tomography (CT) in COVID-19 patients at 6 months after acute illness. Methods: In this prospective, single-center study, hospitalized patients with radiologically and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were included. Results: A high proportion of the 116 patients reported persistent symptoms (n = 54; 46.6%). On follow-up CT, 33 patients (28.4%) demonstrated residual disease. Multivariate analyses revealed that only neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was an independent predictor for residual disease. Conclusion: Hospitalized patients with mild/moderate COVID-19 still had persistent symptoms and were prone to develop long-term pulmonary sequelae on chest CT. However, it did not have a significant effect on long-term pulmonary functions.
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