Abbas Uzair, Ahmed Ishfaque, Afshan Saba, Jogezai Zulfiqar Haider, Kumar Parshad, Ahsan Aiman, Rehan Fatima, Hussain Niaz, Faheem Samar, Baloch Israr Ahmed, Yameen Maliha
Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
Aga Khan University hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
BMC Infect Dis. 2024 Oct 1;24(1):1089. doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09959-w.
Long term respiratory complications of Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) are of great concern. Many studies have reported altered respiratory patterns in COVID-19 recovered individuals and most of them were from severe to critically ill patients. The association of viral load at the time of infection with symptoms of long COVID-19 specifically on pulmonary functions after months of recovery is still not known. This study was aimed to assess the impact of SARS-CoV-2 viral load during mild-moderate COVID-19 disease on pulmonary functions in middle-aged population after 6-8 months of acute infection.
This study included 300 (102 healthy controls and 198 COVID-19 recovered) individuals between age 30-60 of either gender. Mild-moderate COVID-19 recovered individuals were recruited between a period of 6-8 months post-acute infection. Spirometry was performed with MIR-Spirolab-III. The association of spirometry pattern was compared with SARS-CoV-2 viral loads during acute infection.
We observed up to 70% of the participants presented with either shortness of breath (11.5%), body aches (23.5%), recurrent cough (4.4%), recurrent respiratory infections (9.5%) and/or fatigue (33.3%) at follow up. In our study, 35.5% of COVID-19 recovered individuals had abnormal respiratory patterns (33.5% had restrictive and 2% had obstructive patterns). Viral load ≤ 20 CT value was associated with restrictive respiratory patterns (p = 0.004). No association was found between viral load and disease severity (p = 0.23).
In this study, we found one third of mild-moderate COVID-19 recovered individuals have restrictive respiratory patterns after 6-8 months of recovery. These findings had a strong association with SARS-CoV-2 viral loads during acute infection which has been reported for the first time in our study. Studying the relationship between viral load and pulmonary functions can contribute to identifying potential risk factors for long COVID and developing preventive measures to mitigate the long-term impact on lung health.
Not applicable.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的长期呼吸并发症备受关注。许多研究报告了COVID-19康复者呼吸模式的改变，其中大多数研究对象是重症至危重症患者。感染时的病毒载量与长期COVID-19症状之间的关联，特别是在康复数月后的肺功能方面，目前仍不清楚。本研究旨在评估轻度至中度COVID-19疾病期间SARS-CoV-2病毒载量对中年人群急性感染6-8个月后肺功能的影响。
本研究纳入了300名年龄在30至60岁之间的个体（102名健康对照者和198名COVID-19康复者），性别不限。轻度至中度COVID-19康复者在急性感染后6至8个月期间招募。使用MIR-Spirolab-III进行肺活量测定。将肺活量测定模式与急性感染期间的SARS-CoV-2病毒载量进行比较。
我们观察到，在随访时，高达70%的参与者出现了呼吸急促（11.5%）、身体疼痛（23.5%）、反复咳嗽（4.4%）、反复呼吸道感染（9.5%）和/或疲劳（33.3%）等症状。在我们的研究中，35.5%的COVID-19康复者呼吸模式异常（33.5%为限制性模式，2%为阻塞性模式）。病毒载量≤20 CT值与限制性呼吸模式相关（p = 0.004）。未发现病毒载量与疾病严重程度之间存在关联（p = 0.23）。
在本研究中，我们发现三分之一的轻度至中度COVID-19康复者在康复6-8个月后存在限制性呼吸模式。这些发现与急性感染期间的SARS-CoV-2病毒载量密切相关，这在我们的研究中首次报道。研究病毒载量与肺功能之间的关系有助于识别长期COVID的潜在危险因素，并制定预防措施以减轻对肺部健康的长期影响。
不适用。
