Subject(s)
Aftercare , COVID-19/physiopathology , Hospitalization , Lung/physiopathology , Aged , Asthma/epidemiology , COVID-19/diagnostic imaging , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/therapy , Comorbidity , Critical Illness , Dyspnea/physiopathology , Female , Humans , Lung/diagnostic imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Pulmonary Diffusing Capacity , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/epidemiology , Respiratory Function Tests , SARS-CoV-2 , Severity of Illness Index , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Total Lung Capacity , Walk TestABSTRACT
The clinical and social impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on lung transplant (LTx) recipients remain poorly known. We aimed to evaluate its social, clinical, and behavioral consequences on the LTx patients followed in Strasbourg university hospital. A questionnaire was used to collect details concerning patients' lifestyles, their protection methods used to avoid COVID-19 contamination, and clinical infection-related information for March 2020. A specific score was created to quantify patients' contacts and the associated risk of infectious contagion. Data were collected from 322 patients (91.2%). A majority reported a higher application than usual of social distancing and barrier measures. 43.8% described infectious-related symptoms and 15.8% needed an anti-infective treatment. There was no difference in symptom onset according to age, native lung disease, diabetes, or obesity. Nineteen patients were tested for COVID-19, and four were diagnosed positive, all with a favorable outcome. The infection risk contact score was higher for symptomatic patients (p: 0.007), those needing extra-medical appointments (p < .001), and those receiving anti-infective treatments (p = .02). LTx patients reported a careful lifestyle and did not seem at higher risk for COVID-19. Our score showed encouraging preliminary results and could become a useful tool for the usual infection-related follow-up of the LTx patients.