Assessment of Medium-Term Impact of Sars-Cov2 Infection on Pulmonary Function in Albanian Young Adults without Previous History of Respiratory Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: No study has been conducted to allow the evaluation of pulmonary dysfunction in Albanian population after medium-severe COVID-19 disease. AIM: We aimed through this project to overview the spirometry data and correlation to other inflammatory markers in post COVID-19 young adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed to access spirometry as pulmonary function test 3–6 months after COVID-19 in young adults  ≤45 years old, hospitalized for COVID-19, and presented no known history for previous pulmonary disease. RESULTS: Among 61 patients, 41 (67.2%) females; mean age 30.6 ± 8.63 years, have undergone a spirometry test 3–6 months after COVID-19. Spirometry data for pulmonary function resulted: 4 patients (6.56%) with pulmonary dysfunction, among them 1 patient (1.64%) Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/Forced vital capacity (FVC) <75%, with generalized bronchial obstruction and 3 patients (4.92%) with small airway obstruction (brochiolo-obstruction), FEF 25–75 <60%. According to criteria classification for disease, severity (SpO  <94% and/or pulmonary infiltrates >50%) 22 (36.06%) had severe COVID-19. Among two groups of COVID severity, resulted statistically significant (p < 0.05), the difference for visual analogue scale (VAS) for dyspnea perception reported during 1st  month post- COVID-19 after 6 min moderate physical activity and FEV1/FVC (Tiffeneau Index value) resulted no statistically significant changes between groups for inflammatory markers such as C reactive protein level, absolute lymphocyte count, FEF 25–75 or body mass index. D-dimer value had statistically significant change between two groups of COVID-19 severity. In two groups where present VAS dyspnea perception (≤5) and (>5), no significant correlation was found regarding FEV1/FVC and FEF 25–75 values among groups. CONCLUSION: The results show that there are few patients that show obstructive pulmonary dysfunction evaluated by spirometry. As investigated by other published studies probably the effects in pulmonary function are improved after few months and bronchial hyper-reactivity post- COVID-19 needs further investigation.