Extract
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic. As of 22 April, more than 2.4 million cases have been confirmed worldwide [1]. In light of the widely documented lung injuries related to COVID-19 [2, 3], concerns have been raised regarding the assessment of lung injury for discharged patients. A recent report portrayed that discharged patients with COVID-19 pneumonia still have residual abnormalities in chest computed tomography (CT) scans, with ground-glass opacity as the most common pattern [4]. Persistent impairment of pulmonary function and exercise capacity have been known to last for months or even years [5–8] in the recovered survivors from other coronavirus pneumonia (severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)). However, until now, there is no report in regard to pulmonary function in discharged COVID-19 survivors. This article aims to describe the characteristics of pulmonary function in these subjects.
Abstract
In discharged survivors with COVID-19, impairment of diffusion capacity is the most common abnormality of lung function, followed by restrictive ventilatory defects, which are both associated with the severity of the disease https://bit.ly/2yUaBaT
Acknowledgements
We thank the hospital staff for their efforts in collecting the data. We also thank Weijie Guan, Yi Gao, Zhe Zhang, Jinping Zheng and Guangqiao Zeng (First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University) for critical opinion. None of these individuals received compensation for their contributions.
Footnotes
Published in volume 55, issue 6 of the European Respiratory Journal on 18 June 2020; republished 16 October 2020 with amendments to the authors' affiliation details.
Author contributions: S. Li, R. Chen and N. Zhong contributed equally as senior authors. S. Li, R. Chen and N. Zhong had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Concept and design: X. Mo, R. Chen, S. Li. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: X. Mo, W. Jian, Z. Su, M. Chen, H. Peng, P. Peng, C. Lei, R. Chen, S. Li. Drafting of the manuscript: X. Mo, W. Jian, Z. Su, R. Chen. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: C. Lei, N. Zhong.
Conflict of interest: X. Mo has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: W. Jian has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Z. Su has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: M. Chen has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: H. Peng has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: P. Peng has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: C. Lei has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: R. Chen has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: N. Zhong has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: S. Li has nothing to disclose.
Support statement: This study was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (2018YFC1311900) and the National Science Foundation of China (No. 81770017). The funding organisations had no role in the design and conduct of the study.
- Received April 15, 2020.
- Accepted April 28, 2020.
- Copyright ©ERS 2020
This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.