Severity of COVID-19 Infection Using Chest Computed Tomography Severity Score Index Among Vaccinated and Unvaccinated COVID-19-Positive Healthcare Workers: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines protect against severe illness. However, data on post-vaccination COVID-19 breakthrough infections are limited.Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2021 to July 2021 among 2043 COVID-19-positive healthcare workers who were divided into a vaccinated group (n=1010) and an unvaccinated group (n=1033). A pre-tested questionnaire was circulated among the healthcare workers using Google Forms. Chest computed tomography (CT) severity score was the primary outcome variable analyzed using coGuide.Results: The average age of the study population was less than 45 years in both groups (43.05 ± 13.02 years). Most respondents (62%) were males. Hypertension (39%) and diabetes (33%) were the most common underlying diseases. Significant differences in age and cardiac disease were observed between the two groups (p = 0.07 and p <0.001, respectively). However, the difference was insignificant (p >0.05) for gender, hypertension, and diabetes. Most unvaccinated respondents had an increased CT severity score, and the difference between the studies groups was significant (p <0.001). Of the 1,010 vaccinated individuals, 382 (37.82%) received the only first vaccination dose, and 628 (62.18%) received both doses. The CT severity score decreased after receiving both vaccination doses, and the difference between CT severity score and vaccination status was significant (p <0.001).Conclusion: COVID-19 was mild in the vaccinated group. Chest CT severity score index can be considered an efficient tool in predicting prognosis and monitoring disease in patients with COVID-19 in India.

Breakthrough Infections: Clinical Profile and Outcomes of COVID-19 Vaccinated and Unvaccinated People From a Tertiary Care Hospital

“…These observations were corresponding to the results obtained from our study. Minimal clinical severity as depicted by the lower CT-SSs among the vaccinated people as compared to the unvaccinated population was also reported by other studies [ 23 - 25 ].…”

Chest computed tomography of suspected COVID-19 pneumonia in the Emergency Department: comparative analysis between patients with different vaccination status

“…This result was concordant with Lee et al, who did not find any difference in lung involvement when SARS-CoV-2 infection developed into interstitial pneumonia [21]. Other studies [19,20,29] reported a significantly greater extent of pulmonary disease in the incompletely vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients compared to the completely vaccinated group, probably due to a different method for assessing lung involvement. In fact, Verma, Joshi, and Ravindra [19,20,29] used the 5-point scale of CT severity score compared to the binary score (< 25% vs. ≥ 25%) proposed by Lee [21] and our study, which did not consider any difference between the highest lung involvement volumes.…”

Effect of vaccination status on CORADS and computed tomography severity score in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A retrospective study

“…In the study of Mahajan et al [ 16 ], where they evaluated vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, they found that the CT-SS of vaccinated people was mild-moderate, while unvaccinated individuals were moderate-severe. Again, in the studies conducted by Russo et al [ 4 ], Ravindra et al [ 5 ], Fatima et al [ 6 ], and Yavuz et al [ 17 ], when the CT SS of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients were compared, it was shown that vaccinated patients had milder pulmonary involvement. In our study, it was shown that unvaccinated individuals had moderate-severe lung involvement, and patients who received two doses of CoronaVac or two doses of BioNTech or three doses of vaccine had moderate lung involvement.…”