TY - JOUR T1 - Lung function during and after acute respiratory infection in COVID-19 positive and negative outpatients JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.02837-2021 VL - 59 IS - 3 SP - 2102837 AU - Pekka Tamminen AU - Dominik Kerimov AU - Hanna Viskari AU - Janne Aittoniemi AU - Jaana Syrjänen AU - Lauri Lehtimäki Y1 - 2022/03/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/59/3/2102837.abstract N2 - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been associated with prolonged post-acute symptoms in at least 10% of patients [1, 2]. The majority of published data evaluates hospitalised patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) with symptoms and pulmonary function defects several months after discharge [1]. Most of the infected subjects develop mild symptoms and are treated as outpatients. Though they are also reported to suffer from prolonged symptoms, their lung function is studied far less. Furthermore, the prolonged symptoms and objectively measurable findings are usually not compared to a group suffering from airway infection caused by other pathogens [2]. As spirometry and other aerosol-producing procedures are minimised during the pandemic, there are no reports on lung function during acute COVID-19.At acute phase, outpatients with mild COVID-19 had more symptoms, higher small airway resistance and poorer lung elasticity compared to outpatients with other respiratory infections, but there was no difference between the groups after 2 months https://bit.ly/3nalPyeThe authors would like to thank study nurses Merja Rumpunen and Tiina Mäki, as well as the contact tracing unit from Tampere University Hospital for patient management and guidance. The authors would also like to thank statistician Mika Helminen from Tampere University for his advice on statistical analysis. ER -