Dados do Trabalho

Título

RESPIRATORY FUNCTION 3 MONTHS AFTER HOSPITAL DISCHARGE IN CRITICALLY ILL COVID-19 PATIENTS

Objetivo

We aimed to describe pulmonary function abnormalities as well as their impact on the 6-minute walk test (6 MWT) and SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) score in patients with COVID-19 at ≥ 3 months after hospital discharge

Métodos

Weincluded 65 patients aged ≥ 18 years with severe COVID-19 confirmed throughreal-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction andadmitted to the ICU between April 2020 and October 2021. Patients were evaluated at ≥ 3 months after hospital discharge using the 6 MWT, pulmonary function tests (PFTs), and the PCS score.

Resultados

Among included patients, 27patients had abnormal PFT findings, 21 (32.3%) had forced vital capacity < 80%, 17 (26.1%) had forced expiratory volume in 1 s< 80%, and 4 (6.1%) had a maximal mid-expiratory flow< 65%. Compared with patients without abnormal PFT findings, patientswith abnormal PFT findings were older and had significantlyhigher ferritin levels. There were no significant between-group differences ininvasive and noninvasive respiratory support, mechanical ventilation duration, vasopressor use,and renal replacement therapy. However, compared with patients with normalPFT findings, patients with abnormal PFT findings showed asignificantly lower 6-MWT score [78% (0.0–92) vs.95% (75–100), p = 0.01] and worse PCS scores [39.4 (32.1–51.3) vs. 52.0 (47.4–57.3), p = 0.007]. There was an independent association between the PCS scores and PFT findings.

Conclusão

We found that a significant proportion of patients present pulmonary functional alterations ≥ 3 months after discharge from the hospital after treatment for severe COVID-19; further, these alterations affect physical functional capacity and quality of life.