‘Long-COVID’: study of persisting symptoms, biomarker and imaging abnormalities

1. Swapna Mandal1,
2. Joseph Barnett2,
3. Simon E Brill1,
4. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5650-5361Jeremy S Brown3,4,
5. Emma K Denneny4,
6. Samanjit S Hare2,
7. Melissa Heightman4,
8. Toby E Hillman4,
9. Joseph Jacob5,6,
10. Hannah C Jarvis1,
11. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7501-4448Marc C I Lipman1,3,
12. Sindhu B Naidu1,
13. Arjun Nair6,
14. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7307-169XJoanna C Porter3,4,
15. Gillian S Tomlinson4,7,
16. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7246-6040John R Hurst1,3
17. ARC Study Group

PDF: https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/early/2020/11/09/thoraxjnl-2020-215818.full.pdf

Abstract

Large numbers of people are being discharged from hospital following COVID-19 without assessment of recovery. In 384 patients (mean age 59.9 years; 62% male) followed a median 54 days post discharge, 53% reported persistent breathlessness, 34% cough and 69% fatigue. 14.6% had depression. In those discharged with elevated biomarkers, 30.1% and 9.5% had persistently elevated d-dimer and C reactive protein, respectively. 38% of chest radiographs remained abnormal with 9% deteriorating. Systematic follow-up after hospitalisation with COVID-19 identifies the trajectory of physical and psychological symptom burden, recovery of blood biomarkers and imaging which could be used to inform the need for rehabilitation and/or further investigation.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-215818

https://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2020/11/09/thoraxjnl-2020-215818.ful