Relationship Between History of Obesity, Hypertension, Diabetes and COVID-19 Requiring Hospitalization with the Presence of Persistent Dyspnea on Exertion and Abnormal Lung Imaging in Convalescent Patients Recovering from COVID-19

Abstract

Rationale On a previous exploratory analysis, a sample of 150 convalescent patients recovering from COVID-19, we found that a subgroup of our patients continues experiencing persistent dyspnea on exertion (DOE) associated with radiographic abnormalities on chest images (CT chest and chest - x rays). Patients shared the following clinical variables in their medical history: obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and history of hospitalization due to COVID-19. Objective To examine the potential relationship between comorbidities such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes with the presence of persistent dyspnea and abnormal lung imaging in convalescent patients recovering from COVID-19. Also, we examined if history of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization was related to the dependent variables mentioned above. Methods A chi-square test of independence was performed to examine the relation between the clinical variables in the study. The sample of one hundred fifty patients was obtained using the pulmonary office electronic medical record system. The data was collected and analyzed using SPSS Statistics software. Results Based on the data analyzed we found that there is no significant relationship between obesity and persistent DOE nor persistent radiographic abnormalities. At the same time, the test of independence showed that there was no significant association between hypertension and persistent DOE nor persistent radiographic abnormalities. Furthermore, the presence of persistent DOE with or without persistent radiographic abnormalities was not associated with past history of diabetes in convalescent patients recovering from COVID-19. We found that there was a significant statistical relation between the presence of severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization with persistent dyspnea on exertion and persistent radiographic abnormalities. Conclusions This small retrospective analysis revealed a possible relation between history of severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia requiring hospitalization and persistent dyspnea on exertion in convalescent patients recovering from COVID-19 at least thirty days after initial diagnosis. There is also a potential relation between this same variable with the presence of persistent radiographic abnormalities. Further research would be required to investigate if other clinical variables or the concomitant presence of multiple of them may be associated with COVID-19 post inflammatory sequelae.