Regardless of the degree of infection severity, COVID can cause potentially long-lasting small airways disease, experts recently shared in Radiology. 

Up to 50% of COVID survivors are considered “COVID long haulers” and close to 30% of these individuals continue to suffer from lingering coughs and dyspnea months after recovering from the infection, despite having endured more mild cases. 

“Survivors of severe COVID-19 have pulmonary function abnormalities that persist for weeks to months after resolution of the acute illness,” senior author on the study Alejandro P. Comellas, MD, professor of internal medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, and co-authors explained. “The long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in these patients are poorly understood, but the potential impact on our healthcare systems is enormous given the millions of infections worldwide, most of whom had mild disease.” 

The researchers enrolled 100 patients who suffered from respiratory symptoms that persisted for more than 30 days after their COVID diagnosis and compared them to a control group of 106 healthy individuals. A chest CT protocol that included both inspiration and expiration imaging was completed for all COVID patients (median 75 days after diagnosis) to check for regional air trapping. Based on the highest level of care they required during their infection, the long haulers were classified as ambulatory (67), hospitalized (17) or requiring the intensive care unit (16).