Post COVID-19 pneumonia lung fibrosis: A worrisome sequelae in surviving patients.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the frequency of pulmonary fibrosis after coronavirus infection through computed tomography (CT) severity score analysis. Study Design: Cross-sectional Prospective study. Setting: Tertiary Care Hospital Kharian. Period: 12 November 2021 to 11 May 2022. Methods: It included 100 patients with age range of 20 to 70 years. The demographics, clinical history and severity level of patients was noted at admission. The CT was conducted at follow up of 6 weeks. The eminent CT findings and severity score were recorded for each patient. The occurrence of fibrosis was recorded at 12 weeks follow-up. The data was assessed by statistical software for social sciences (SPSS) v.23 through means and standard deviations or frequencies and percentages. The association of CT severity score and occurrence of fibrosis was checked through correlation analysis with p value of 0.05 as significant. Results: The findings of CT at week 12 was significant correlated with CT severity score at week 6. Conclusion: The CT findings and scoring can help in assessing the probability of occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis. This can be helpful for timely treatment of the disease.