A study to determine Cardiopulmonary reserve and Vital capacity by Breath-holding test in Covid -19 patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

ABSTRACT

Background & objectives: The most common clinical presentation of COVID 19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome. Due to its rapid and risky course of transmission and limited medical facilities, it is important to identify the patients with hampered lung function with minimal chance of aerosol spread. As conventional spirometry increases the chances of infection transmission, a breath-holding test can be used to determine vital capacity and cardiopulmonary reserve. Method(s) From May 11 to June 4, 2020, a randomly sampled study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, Ahmedabad. Patients aged between 18-65 years with mild to moderate COVID 19 infection and who were vitally stable were included in the study. In all participants, the breath-holding test was performed and vital capacity and cardiopulmonary reserve were measured. Result(s) 16 females and 34 males, with a mean age of 45.82+/-12.08, were included in the study. Average Breath-holding time was 28.56 - 15.20 seconds, vital capacity was 3400+/-892.142 liters. Patients had 32%, 56% and 12% grade 0, 1 and 2 cardiopulmonary reserves respectively. Interpretation & conclusion: From our study, we concluded that vital capacity and cardiopulmonary reserve are compromised in patients with mild to moderate covid 19 infections. No Patients with more than two comorbidities had normal cardiopulmonary reserve and even vital capacity was lowest in them, when compared to patients with no comorbidities.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.