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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1463320
Assessment of Chest CT Abnormalities and Pulmonary Function at 6-month and 1-year After Hospital Discharge in Chinese Patients of COVID-19 Pneumonia at the Turn of 2022-2023
Provisionally accepted- 305 Hospital of People Liberation Army, Xicheng, China
Objective: This study aimed to assess chest CT abnormalities and pulmonary function at 6-month and 1-year follow-ups in COVID-19 pneumonia patients of the China epidemic in the turn of 2022-2023.: A total of 156 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia admitted between November 29, 2022 and February 10, 2023 were prospectively assessed at 6 -month and 1-year follow-ups. Characteristics and CT scores of pulmonary abnormalities and pulmonary function were compared between different follow-up time points. The correlation of CT abnormalities and pulmonary function at 1-year were evaluated.Results: Over 1 year, the proportion of pulmonary abnormalities gradually decreased (initial, 100%, 156/156; 6-month, 57.1%, 89/156; 1-year, 37.8%, 59/156; P <.001), whereas fibrotic changes increased (initial, 6.4%, 10/156; 6-month, 14.1%, 22/156; 1year, 14.7%, 23/56; P <.001). Compared to participants of the subgroup with nonfibrotic changes, Diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO)(P =.01) and DLCO less than 80% predicted (P <.001) showed significantly decrease in participants of the subgroup with fibrotic changes. The extent of fibrotic changes was strongly correlated with lower DLCO (r=-.734, P <.001).Fibrotic changes might show a tendency to persist over time and correlate strongly with impairment of diffusion function, thus requiring more attention in future follow-ups.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Pulmonary Function, Tomography, X-Ray, follow-up
Received: 11 Jul 2024; Accepted: 17 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fang, Li, Zhang, Lv, Liu, Feng, Pan, Liu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jinping Zhang, 305 Hospital of People Liberation Army, Xicheng, China
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