ABSTRACT
Introduction: Thoracic ultrasound (TUS) has proven useful in the diagnosis, risk stratification and monitoring of disease progression in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, utility in follow-up is poorly described. To elucidate this area, we performed TUS as part of a 12-month clinical follow-up in patients previously admitted with COVID-19 and correlated findings with clinical assessment and pulmonary function tests. Methods: Adult patients discharged from our hospital following admission with COVID-19 during March to May 2020 were invited to a 12-month follow-up. Enrolled patients were interviewed regarding persisting or newly developed symptoms in addition to TUS, spirometry and a 6-min walk test. Patients were referred to high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lungs if suspicion of pulmonary fibrosis was raised. Results: Forty patients were enrolled in the study of whom had 13 developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during admission. Patients with ARDS were more prone to experience neurological symptoms at follow-up (p = 0.03) and showed more B-lines on TUS (p = 0.008) but did not otherwise differ significantly in terms of pulmonary function tests. Four patients had pathological findings on TUS where subsequent diagnostics revealed that two had interstitial lung abnormalities and two had heart failure. These four patients presented with a significantly lower diffusing capacity of lung for carbon monoxide (p=0.03) and 6-min walking distance (p=0.006) compared to the remaining 36 patients without ultrasound pathology. No significant difference was observed in spirometry values of % of predicted FEV1 (p=0.49) or FVC (p=0.07). No persisting cardiovascular pathology was observed in patients without ultrasonographic pathology. Conclusion: At 12-month after admission with COVID-19, a follow-up combining TUS, clinical assessment, and pulmonary function tests may improve the selection of patients requiring further diagnostic investigations such as HRCT or echocardiography.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate trends in first-time hospitalisations with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a publicly financed healthcare system during the period from 2002 to 2008 with respect to incidence, outcome and characteristics of hospitalisations, departments, and patients. METHODS: Using health administrative data from national registers, all first-time hospitalisations with COPD in Denmark (population 5.4 million) were identified. Data based on the individual hospitalisations and patients were retrieved and analysed. RESULTS: During the period 2002 to 2008 the total rate of COPD hospitalisations decreased from 460 to 410 per 100,000 person years. Among persons above 45 years of age, the age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate of first-time COPD hospitalisations decreased by 8.2% (95% CI 5.0-11.2%). The inpatient mortality increased OR 1.16 (95% CI 1.01-1.34) and the one-year mortality increased OR 1.12 (95% CI 1.03-1.21). Concurrently, significant age- and sex-adjusted increases were found in use of intensive care, comorbidity, patient travel distance, bed occupancy rate of the receiving department, prior use of oral and inhaled corticosteroids, use of outpatient clinics and encounters in general practice, while length of stay and number of receiving hospitals decreased. CONCLUSION: Decreasing rate of first-time COPD hospitalisations combined with shorter lengths of stay and increasing severity of cases indicates that the use of hospital beds for COPD exacerbations has been gradually restricted. This may be causally related to both the centralisation into overcrowded departments and the improved outside hospital treatment of COPD, also demonstrated in this study.
