Anhui Medical University PLA 307 Clinical College, Beijing, China.
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Diseases, Senior Department of Infectious Diseases, the Fifth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
BMC Pulm Med. 2024 Mar 27;24(1):156. doi: 10.1186/s12890-024-02937-7.
Chronic cough is a common symptom in patients post the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and the clinical characteristics of patients with post-COVID-19 chronic cough during the Omicron era.
An ambispective, longitudinal cohort study was conducted that included patients with post-COVID-19 who attended the respiratory clinic at our hospital between January 1, 2023, and March 31, 2023 with a complaint of persistent cough lasting more than 8 weeks. At 30 and 60 days after the first clinic visit for post-COVID-19 chronic cough, enrolled patients were prospectively followed up. We compared the changes in symptoms and pulmonary function between patients receiving ICS treatment (ICS group) and those not receiving ICS treatment (NICS group) at the two visits.
A total of 104 patients with post-COVID-19 chronic cough were enrolled in this study (ICS group, n = 51; NICS group, n = 53). The most common symptoms accompanying post-COVID-19 chronic cough were sputum (58.7%, 61/104) and dyspnea (48.1%, 50/104). Seventy-one (82.6%, 71/86) patients had airway hyperresponsiveness, and 49 patients (47.1%, 49/104) were newly diagnosed with asthma. Most patients (95.2%, 99/104) exhibited improvement at 60 days after the first visit. The pulmonary function parameters of the patients in the ICS group were significantly improved compared to the baseline values (P < 0.05), and the improvement in the FEV/FVC was significantly greater than that in the NICS group (P = 0.003) after 60 days.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) may contribute to the pathogenesis of asthma, which could be the underlying cause of persistent cough post-COVID-19 infection. Post-COVID-19 chronic cough during the Omicron era was often accompanied by sputum, dyspnea, and airway hyperresponsiveness. ICS treatment did not have a significant impact on symptom management of post-COVID-19 chronic cough; however, it can improve impaired lung function in in these individuals.
新冠病毒病 2019（COVID-19）后，慢性咳嗽是患者的常见症状。在这项研究中，我们旨在探讨在奥密克戎时代 COVID-19 后慢性咳嗽患者中吸入皮质类固醇（ICS）的疗效和临床特征。
这是一项前瞻性、纵向队列研究，纳入 2023 年 1 月 1 日至 3 月 31 日期间因持续咳嗽超过 8 周而在我院呼吸科就诊的 COVID-19 后患者。在 COVID-19 慢性咳嗽首次就诊后 30 和 60 天，对入组患者进行前瞻性随访。我们比较了在这两次就诊时接受 ICS 治疗（ICS 组）和未接受 ICS 治疗（NICS 组）的患者症状和肺功能的变化。
这项研究共纳入 104 例 COVID-19 后慢性咳嗽患者（ICS 组，n=51；NICS 组，n=53）。COVID-19 后慢性咳嗽最常见的伴随症状是咳痰（58.7%，61/104）和呼吸困难（48.1%，50/104）。71 例（82.6%，71/86）患者存在气道高反应性，49 例（47.1%，49/104）患者新诊断为哮喘。大多数患者（95.2%，99/104）在首次就诊后 60 天症状改善。与基线值相比，ICS 组患者的肺功能参数显著改善（P<0.05），并且在 60 天后，FEV/FVC 的改善明显大于 NICS 组（P=0.003）。
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒-2（SARS-CoV-2）可能导致哮喘的发病机制，这可能是 COVID-19 感染后持续性咳嗽的潜在原因。奥密克戎时代的 COVID-19 后慢性咳嗽常伴有咳痰、呼吸困难和气道高反应性。ICS 治疗对 COVID-19 后慢性咳嗽的症状管理没有显著影响；然而，它可以改善这些患者受损的肺功能。
