Pulmonary fibrosis 4 months after COVID-19 is associated with severity of illness and blood leucocyte telomere length

• Published in: Thorax Vol. 76; no. 12; pp. 1242 - 1245
• Main Authors: McGroder, Claire F, Zhang, David, Choudhury, Mohammad A, Salvatore, Mary M, D'Souza, Belinda M, Hoffman, Eric A, Wei, Ying, Baldwin, Matthew R, Garcia, Christine Kim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society 01.12.2021; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Brief Communication; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - complications; Dehydrogenases; Dyspnea; Fibrosis; Frailty; Genotype & phenotype; Hospitalization; Humans; imaging/CT MRI etc; interstitial fibrosis; Medical imaging; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Pulmonary fibrosis; Pulmonary Fibrosis - diagnostic imaging; Pulmonary Fibrosis - genetics; Pulmonary Fibrosis - virology; respiratory measurement; Risk factors; Steroids; Telomere - genetics; Ventilation; viral infection; COVID-19; respiratory measurement; viral infection; interstitial fibrosis; imaging/CT MRI etc
• ISSN: 0040-6376; 1468-3296
• DOI: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2021-217031

The risk factors for development of fibrotic-like radiographic abnormalities after severe COVID-19 are incompletely described and the extent to which CT findings correlate with symptoms and physical function after hospitalisation remains unclear. At 4 months after hospitalisation, fibrotic-like patterns were more common in those who underwent mechanical ventilation (72%) than in those who did not (20%). We demonstrate that severity of initial illness, duration of mechanical ventilation, lactate dehydrogenase on admission and leucocyte telomere length are independent risk factors for fibrotic-like radiographic abnormalities. These fibrotic-like changes correlate with lung function, cough and measures of frailty, but not with dyspnoea.