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How often does COVID-19 lead to persistent pulmonary damage? Small studies have suggested that such outcomes are quite unusual (NEJM JW Gen Med Dec 1 2022 and Radiology 2022; 305:479), but now a large prospective British study raises more concern.
A cohort of 3700 patients (median age, 60) who were hospitalized in the U.K. with COVID-19 between March 2020 and March 2021 were followed prospectively for as long as 8 months. During that time, 255 patients underwent chest computed tomography for clinical reasons; 209 of these scans were available for review and scoring. Substantial residual lung abnormalities (often reticulations and ground-glass opacities that suggested interstitial lung disease) were found in 80% of these 209 scans and, among …