• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• 제87권4호
• /
• pp.532-542
• /
• 2024

Background: The sequelae of post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia on lung function, exercise capacity, and quality of life were observed in both short-term and long-term. However, the study about the respiratory and locomotor muscle strength in severe and critically ill COVID-19 survivors are still limited. Therefore, we aimed to examine long-term pulmonary function, functional capacities, and respiratory and locomotor body muscle strength in severe to critically ill post-COVID-19 survivors. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in 22 post-COVID-19 pneumonia and healthy adults. Clinical characteristics during admission, pulmonary function, functional capacity, respiratory muscles, and locomotor muscles strength were examined at 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge from the hospital. Results: The generalized linear mixed model showed that percent predicted of forced expiratory volume in the 1 second (%FEV1), percent predicted of forced vital capacity (%FVC), maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), handgrip strength, 6-minute walk distance, and five times sit to stand (5TSTS) were significantly lower in post-COVID-19 pneumonia patients than in healthy subjects during the follow-up period. The percent predicted of maximal voluntary ventilation (%MVV), and locomotor muscle strength were not different between the two groups throughout the follow-up period. Among post-COVID-19 pneumonia patients, %FEV₁, %FVC, %MVV, 5TSTS, locomotor muscle strength significantly improved at three months compared to baseline at 1 month. Conclusion: Pulmonary function, functional capacity, respiratory, and locomotor muscle strength of survivors from COVID-19 were impaired and recovery was observed after three to six months. These emphasized the need to evaluate the long-term consequences of COVID-19.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• 제21권7호
• /
• pp.880-890
• /
• 2020

Objective: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are known to be at risk of osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between thoracic vertebral bone density measured on chest CT (D_Thorax) and clinical variables, including survival, in patients with COPD. Materials and Methods: A total of 322 patients with COPD were selected from the Korean Obstructive Lung Disease (KOLD) cohort. D_Thorax was measured by averaging the CT values of three consecutive vertebral bodies at the level of the left main coronary artery with a round region of interest as large as possible within the anterior column of each vertebral body using an in-house software. Associations between D_Thorax and clinical variables, including survival, pulmonary function test (PFT) results, and CT densitometry, were evaluated. Results: The median follow-up time was 7.3 years (range: 0.1-12.4 years). Fifty-six patients (17.4%) died. D_Thorax differed significantly between the different Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stages. D_Thorax correlated positively with body mass index (BMI), some PFT results, and the six-minute walk distance, and correlated negatively with the emphysema index (EI) (all p < 0.05). In the univariate Cox analysis, older age (hazard ratio [HR], 3.617; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.119-6.173, p < 0.001), lower BMI (HR, 3.589; 95% CI, 2.122-6.071, p < 0.001), lower forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) (HR, 2.975; 95% CI, 1.682-5.262, p < 0.001), lower diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide corrected with hemoglobin (DL_CO) (HR, 4.595; 95% CI, 2.665-7.924, p < 0.001), higher EI (HR, 3.722; 95% CI, 2.192-6.319, p < 0.001), presence of vertebral fractures (HR, 2.062; 95% CI, 1.154-3.683, p = 0.015), and lower D_Thorax (HR, 2.773; 95% CI, 1.620-4.746, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with all-cause mortality and lung-related mortality. In the multivariate Cox analysis, lower D_Thorax (HR, 1.957; 95% CI, 1.075-3.563, p = 0.028) along with older age, lower BMI, lower FEV₁, and lower DL_CO were independent predictors of all-cause mortality. Conclusion: The thoracic vertebral bone density measured on chest CT demonstrated significant associations with the patients' mortality and clinical variables of disease severity in the COPD patients included in KOLD cohort.