Clínica de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad de la Península de Yucatán, IMSS-Bienestar, Mérida, Mexico.
Clínica de Enfermedades Intersticiales del Pulmón, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, CdMx, Mexico.
Exp Physiol. 2024 Dec;109(12):2147-2157. doi: 10.1113/EP091934. Epub 2024 Oct 24.
The long-term effects of COVID-19 on lung function are not understood, especially for periods extending beyond 1 year after infection. This observational, longitudinal study investigated lung function in Mexican Hispanics who experienced severe COVID-19, focusing on how the length of recovery affects lung function improvements. At a specialized COVID-19 follow-up clinic in Yucatan, Mexico, lung function and symptoms were assessed in patients who had recovered from severe COVID-19. We used z-scores, and Wilcoxon's signed rank test to analyse changes in lung function over time. Lung function was measured twice in 82 patients: the first and second measurements were taken a median of 94 and 362 days after COVID-19 diagnosis, respectively. Initially, 61% of patients exhibited at least one of several pulmonary function abnormalities (lower limit of normal = -1.645), which decreased to 22% of patients by 390 days post-recovery. Considering day-to-day variability in lung function, 68% of patients showed improvement by the final visit, while 30% had unchanged lung function from the initial assessment. Computed tomography (CT) scans revealed ground-glass opacities in 33% of patients. One year after infection, diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide z-scores accounted for 30% of the variation in CT fibrosis scores. There was no significant correlation between the length of recovery and improvement in lung function based on z-scores. In conclusion, 22% of patients who recovered from severe COVID-19 continued to show at least one lung function abnormality 1 year after recovery, indicating a prolonged impact of COVID-19 on lung health.
COVID-19 对肺功能的长期影响尚不清楚，特别是在感染后 1 年以上的时期。这项观察性、纵向研究调查了经历过严重 COVID-19 的墨西哥裔西班牙人的肺功能，重点关注恢复期的长短如何影响肺功能的改善。在墨西哥尤卡坦的一个专门的 COVID-19 随访诊所，对从严重 COVID-19 中康复的患者进行了肺功能和症状评估。我们使用 z 分数和 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验来分析随时间推移肺功能的变化。在 82 名患者中进行了两次肺功能测量：第一次和第二次测量分别在 COVID-19 诊断后中位数 94 天和 362 天进行。最初，61%的患者至少存在一种肺功能异常（正常值下限=-1.645），到恢复后 390 天减少到 22%的患者。考虑到肺功能的日常变化，68%的患者在最后一次就诊时显示出改善，而 30%的患者从初始评估到最后一次就诊时肺功能保持不变。计算机断层扫描（CT）显示 33%的患者存在磨玻璃影。感染后 1 年，一氧化碳弥散量 z 分数占 CT 纤维化评分变异的 30%。基于 z 分数，恢复时间与肺功能改善之间没有显著相关性。总之，22%从严重 COVID-19 中康复的患者在康复后 1 年仍至少存在一种肺功能异常，表明 COVID-19 对肺部健康的影响持续时间较长。
