Clinical Assessment of Endothelial Function in Convalescent COVID-19 Patients Undergoing Multidisciplinary Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
Biomedicines
; 9(6)2021 May 28.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1256426
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Growing evidence points to a key role of endothelial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. In this study, we evaluated changes in endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in a cohort of convalescent COVID-19 patients undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation (PR).METHODS:
After swab test negativization, convalescent COVID-19 patients referring to a post-acute care facility for PR were consecutively screened for inclusion. Study procedures were performed at the time of hospitalization and discharge.RESULTS:
We enrolled 82 convalescent COVID-19 patients (85.4% males, mean age 60.4 years). After PR, a significant improvement in most pulmonary function tests and exercise capacity was documented. FMD changed from 2.48% ± 2.01 to 4.24% ± 2.81 (p < 0.001), corresponding to a 70.9% increase. Significantly higher changes in FMD were found in patients without a history of vascular events as compared to those with (+2.04% ± 2.30 vs. +0.61% ± 1.83, p = 0.013). Values of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1%), forced vital capacity (FVC%) and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO%) significantly and directly correlated with FMD both at baseline and after PR. Patients with normal FEV1% (≥80% predicted) during the overall study period or those normalizing FEV1% after PR showed a more significant FMD change as compared to patients with persistently impaired FEV1% (<80% predicted) (p for trend = 0.029). This finding was confirmed in a multivariate analysis.CONCLUSIONS:
Clinically evaluated endothelial function improves after PR in convalescent COVID-19 patients. A direct and persistent association between the severity of pulmonary and vascular disease can be hypothesized. Endothelial function testing may be useful in the follow-up of convalescent COVID-19 patients.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Biomedicines9060614
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS