INTRIGUING STUDY OF PULMONARY FUNCTION TESTS POST-COVID-19 PNEUMONIA IN A HISPANIC-DOMINANT POPULATION

ABSTRACT

SESSION TITLE Unique Uses of Pulmonary Function Tests SESSION TYPE Rapid Fire Original Inv PRESENTED ON 10/19/2022 1115 am - 1215 pm PURPOSE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly transmissible respiratory disease that causes global pandemic. It is known to cause impairment of lung function leading to morbidity and mortality. Long term data for lung function tests in these populations is still limited. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who had initial and follow up spirometry tests from August 2020 to December 2021 in a pulmonary clinic in Corpus Christi, Texas was performed. Baseline characteristic and spirometry parameters including age, gender, race, body mass index, comorbidities, pre/post bronchodilator FEV1, FVC, lung volume, DLCO and 6-minute walk test were collected. T test analysis was performed to compare the data between initial and follow up pulmonary function tests. RESULTS: A total of 29 patients were enrolled.The mean COVID diagnosis to PFT interval was 126 days. Mean follow up duration was 309 days. Mean (SD) age was 58 (10) years. Forty-eight percent of the participants were male gender. Majority of our participants were hispanic (72%) followed by caucasian (21%) and others (7%). Average BMI (SD) was 34.6 (7.5) kg/m². Restrictive lung defect pattern was found in 55.2% on initial pulmonary function test in the clinic which dropped to 41.4% in the follow up test with supportive management. Initial and follow up prebronchodilator percent predicted mean(SD) of FVC were 65 (20) and 72 (20) respectively with a mean difference of 6.3 (p=0.002, 95% CI 2.54-10.10). Initial and follow up prebronchodilator percent predicted mean(SD) of FEV1 were 71 (23) and 78 (21) respectively with a mean difference of 6.7 (p=0.003, 95% CI 2.46-10.90). Moreover, mean(SD) of DLCO and TLC showed significant improvement during follow-up visit [DLCO-69 (24) and 77 (20), mean difference of 7.6 (p=0.016, 95% CI 1.58-13.59), TLC-64 (17) and 71 (14) respectively, mean difference of 7(p=0.005, 95%CI 2.32-11.76)]. CONCLUSIONS: We found improvement of many parameters of pulmonary function test in post COVID-19 patients during follow-up with supportive care. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Regular follow up can be a useful tool to understand the prognosis of post COVID-19 pneumonia sequelae. DISCLOSURES No relevant relationships by Asad Chohan No relevant relationships by Saiara Choudhury No relevant relationships by Pahnwat Taweesedt No relevant relationships by Abhay Vakil