AI Article Synopsis

  • A study looked at people who survived severe COVID-19 to see how it affected their breathing, muscles, and mental health three months later.
  • They found that many patients had ongoing breathing problems, muscle weakness, and even signs of anxiety or PTSD.
  • The research showed that a specific group of patients had the worst symptoms, but their issues weren't linked to how sick they were during COVID-19.

Article Abstract

Background: The mid-term respiratory sequelae in survivors of severe COVID-19 appear highly heterogeneous. In addition, factors associated with respiratory sequelae are not known. In this monocentric prospective study, we performed a multidisciplinary assessment for respiratory and muscular impairment and psychological distress 3 months after severe COVID-19. We analysed factors associated with severe persistent respiratory impairment, amongst demographic, COVID-19 severity, and 3-month assessment.

Methods: Patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia requiring ≥ 4L/min were included for a systematic 3-month visit, including respiratory assessment (symptoms, lung function, CT scan), muscular evaluation (body composition, physical function and activity, disability), psychopathological evaluation (anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder-PTSD) and quality of life. A cluster analysis was performed to identify subgroups of patients based on objective functional measurements: D, total lung capacity and 6-min walking distance (6MWD).

Results: Sixty-two patients were analysed, 39% had dyspnea on exercise (mMRC ≥ 2), 72% had D < 80%, 90% had CT-scan abnormalities; 40% had sarcopenia/pre-sarcopenia and 31% had symptoms of PTSD. Cluster analysis identified a group of patients (n = 18, 30.5%) with a severe persistent (SP) respiratory impairment (D 48 ± 12%, 6MWD 299 ± 141 m). This SP cluster was characterized by older age, severe respiratory symptoms, but also sarcopenia/pre-sarcopenia, symptoms of PTSD and markedly impaired quality of life. It was not associated with initial COVID-19 severity or management.

Conclusions And Clinical Implication: We identified a phenotype of patients with severe persistent respiratory and muscular impairment and psychological distress 3 months after severe COVID-19. Our results highlight the need for multidisciplinary assessment and management after severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Trial registration The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (May 6, 2020): NCT04376840.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9344257PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12931-022-02111-9DOI Listing

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