Patients having Lung Fibrosis after Covid-19: A Problematic Sequelae in Surviving Patients

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 has infected people all over the world. By the end of November 2020, it was confirmed that about 67M people were suffering from COVID-19 and almost 1.7 million people had died due to it. The symptoms of COVID-19 had a wide range from mild upper respiratory indications to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. Certain factors of COVID-19 include old age, males, hypertension, and diabetes. Aim: To detect and predict those patients who would develop lung fibrosis after Covid-19 infection as early introduction of anti-fibrotic drugs can be started. Methodology: Overall, 85 individuals were involved in this study. Patients who were having COVID-19, confirmed by PCR, were examined by follow-up MDCT. CT scan was performed and similar research was involved with some follow-up data that include residual fibrotic changes and different radiological signs. Some risk factors were predicted that were said to be the source of lung fibrosis after COVID-19. These factors include cigarette smoking, old age, CT severity score being high and mechanical ventilation in the long term. Results: The analysis of 85 patients, from which males were 43 and females were 42. Their age varied from 24 to 76 years old. A total of 30 (37.5%) individuals had a history of cigarette smoking of more than 25 cigarettes per day for more than ten years. People in the age group 60 to 76 years old had the highest commonness of getting post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis. About 15 out of thirty-two patients, which is 46.2 percent, had pulmonary fibrosis. Patients of the age group 45 to 60 years had mild prevalence which is 7 out of 27 patients (25.9 percent). Conclusion: If post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis is detected early in individuals, there may be some changes to prevent such long-term complications.