Risk of Pulmonary Fibrosis and Persistent Symptoms Post-COVID-19 in a Cohort of Outpatient Health Workers
Rosario Fernández-Plata,
Anjarath-Lorena Higuera-Iglesias,
Luz María Torres-Espíndola,
Arnoldo Aquino-Gálvez,
Rafael Velázquez Cruz,
Ángel Camarena,
Jaime Chávez Alderete,
Javier Romo García,
Noé Alvarado-Vásquez,
David Martínez Briseño,
Manuel Castillejos-López,
Research Working Group
Affiliations
Rosario Fernández-Plata
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Anjarath-Lorena Higuera-Iglesias
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Luz María Torres-Espíndola
Laboratory of Pharmacology, National Institute of Pediatrics, Insurgentes Sur 3700, Mexico City 04530, México
Arnoldo Aquino-Gálvez
Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Emerging Diseases and COPD, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Rafael Velázquez Cruz
Genomics of Bone Metabolism Laboratory, National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), Mexico City 14610, Mexico
Ángel Camarena
Laboratory of HLA, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Jaime Chávez Alderete
Department of Bronchial Hyperreactivity, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Javier Romo García
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Noé Alvarado-Vásquez
Department of Biochemistry, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
David Martínez Briseño
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Manuel Castillejos-López
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases “Ismael Cosío Villegas”, Tlalpan 4502, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
Background: Infection by SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with multiple symptoms; however, still, little is known about persistent symptoms and their probable association with the risk of developing pulmonary fibrosis in patients post-COVID-19. Methods: A longitudinal prospective study on health workers infected by SARS-CoV-2 was conducted. In this work, signs and symptoms were recorded of 149 health workers with a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 at the beginning of the diagnosis, during the active infection, and during post-COVID-19 follow-up. The McNemar chi-square test was used to compare the proportions and percentages of symptoms between the baseline and each follow-up period. Results: The signs and symptoms after follow-up were cardiorespiratory, neurological, and inflammatory. Gastrointestinal symptoms were unusual at the disease onset, but unexpectedly, their frequency was higher in the post-infection stage. The multivariate analysis showed that pneumonia (HR 2.4, IC95%: 1.5–3.8, p p < 0.001) were factors associated with the diagnosis of post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis in this study group. Conclusions: Our results showed that pneumonia and virus infection persistence were risk factors for developing pulmonary fibrosis post-COVID-19, after months of initial infection.
