Clinical outcomes and lung ultrasound findings in COVID-19 follow up: Calm comes after the storm?

Introduction There is still an undiscovered territory about the sequelae and lung ultrasound (LUS) findings after SARS-CoV2 acute infection. This study aims to investigate the post-COVID period from a clinical, psychosocial, and radiological point of view, analyze LUS on COVID-19 follow-up and detect whether these outcomes are related to the patient situation. Methods We conducted an observational study on patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV2 pneumonia and admitted to the University Hospital of La Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain) from 1st March to 31st August 2020. We performed a descriptive analysis on post-COVID manifestations, LUS score, health-related quality of life measured through the Euroqol 5D-5L questionnaire, and lung function parameters on follow-up, and we compared these variables to the outcomes during the hospital admission. Results 77 patients were included; the mean age was 57 years and the follow-up mean time from hospital discharge was 16 weeks. 87% of the cases had symptoms on follow-up, the most common was dyspnea (65%); these manifestations were more frequent in females (p = 0,015). 76,5% of the cases had lung aeration alteration in LUS on follow-up; lower PaO2/FiO2 and greater CRP and IL-6 levels on admission were related to LUS score ≥1. Conclusions Almost 90% of the patients had persistent symptoms after 16 weeks of hospital discharge due to COVID-19, the most common manifestation presented was dyspnea. Altered lung aeration pattern in LUS was observed on more than 70% of the patients on follow-up.