Healthy outcomes of patients with COVID-19 two years after the infection: a prospective cohort study.

The long-term effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been rarely known. This study aimed to investigate healthy outcomes of COVID-19 survivors up to 2 years after the infection. A total of 155 COVID-19 patients, who were discharged from Shenzhen Third People's Hospital from February 2020 to April 2020, were enrolled and followed up until March 4, 2022. COVID-19 survivors received questionnaires of long COVID symptoms and psychological symptoms, pulmonary function tests, chest computed tomography (CT) scans and routine laboratory tests. Two years after infection, 36.6% of patients had at least one symptom of long COVID. Vision impairment and fatigue were the most common symptom. 35.0% of participants still had at least one psychological symptom of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and sleep difficulties. Radiographic abnormalities were presented in 50.7% of patients, with the most common features of fibrosis-like lesions and residual ground-glass opacity. Diffuse dysfunction (24.0%) was the main abnormalities of pulmonary function tests. Most laboratory parameters returned to normal range, while persistent abnormalities in kidney and liver function test were observed in a subset of participants after discharge. Two years after COVID-19 infection, persistent symptoms of long COVID and psychological symptoms, as well as abnormalities in pulmonary function tests and CT, were still common in a subset of recovering individuals. These findings were limited by the lack of a healthy control group and pre-COVID assessments, which should be confirmed by further large-scale studies.

Clinical status of patients 1 year after hospital discharge following recovery from COVID-19: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The long-term clinical status of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in recovered patients remains largely unknown. This prospective cohort study evaluated clinical status of COVID-19 and explored the associated risk factors. METHODS: At the outpatient visit, patients underwent routine blood tests, physical examinations, pulmonary function tests, 6-min walk test, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) of the chest, and extrapulmonary organ function tests. RESULTS: 230 patients were analyzed. Half (52.7%) reported at least one symptom, most commonly fatigue (20.3%) and sleep difficulties (15.8%). Anxiety (8.2%), depression (11.3%), post-traumatic symptoms (10.3%), and sleep disorders (26.3%) were also reported. Diffusion impairments were found in 35.4% of the patients. Abnormal chest CT scans were present in 63.5% of the patients, mainly reticulation and ground-glass opacities. Further, a persistent decline in kidney function was observed after discharge. SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies of IgA, IgG, and IgM were positive in 56.4%, 96.3%, and 15.2% of patients, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression showed that disease severity, age, and sex were closely related to patient recovery. CONCLUSIONS: One year after hospital discharge, patients recovered from COVID-19 continued to experience both pulmonary and extrapulmonary dysfunction. While paying attention to pulmonary manifestations of COVID-19, follow-up studies on extrapulmonary manifestations should be strengthened.

PBL teaching in ultrasonography resident standardization training in the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of the problem-based learning (PBL) method in ultrasonography (US) resident standardization training during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Fifty residents were divided into two groups to participate in a 30-day US training program. The residents in the observation group underwent PBL combined with the lecture-based learning (LBL) method, while the residents in the control group experienced the LBL method alone, with 25 residents in each group. A basic theoretical test, practical examination, and questionnaire were used to evaluate the teaching effect of the PBL + LBL method and the LBL method alone. RESULTS: The basic theoretical pretest score of the observation group was not significantly different from that of the control group. However, the posttest theoretical score and practical score were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group (P < 0.01). The results of the questionnaire showed that the resident satisfaction level in the observation group with PBL combined with the LBL method was 96%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group with the LBL method alone (80%) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The combination of PBL with the LBL method has obvious advantages over the LBL method alone in regard to the training of US residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PBL Teaching In Ultrasonography Resident Standardization Training In The COVID-19 Pandemic (preprint)

Objective: To study the effect of problem-based learning (PBL) method in ultrasonography (US) resident standardization training during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Forty-six residents were randomly divided into two groups to participate in a 30-day US training program. The residents in the observation group underwent the PBL combined with lecture-based learning (LBL) mode, while the residents in the control group participated in an integration of the LBL mode alone, with 23 residents in each group. The basic theoretical test, practical examination, and questionnaire were used to evaluate the teaching effect of the PBL+ LBL mode and the LBL mode alone. Results: The basic theoretical pre-test score of observation group had no significant differences with that of the control group. The post-test theoretical score and practical score were higher in the observation group than that of the control group with significant differences (P<0.01). The results of the questionnaire showed that resident’s satisfaction in the observation group with PBL combined with LBL method was 96%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group with LBL mode alone (80%) (P<0.05).Conclusion: The combination of PBL with LBL method has obvious advantages over the LBL mode alone in the training of US residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.