Table 1.
Baseline putative determinants of CT lung abnormalities during follow-up in the whole cohort, and only in patients with CT lung abnormalities at 2–3 and at 6–7 months. IQR, interquartile range; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CRP, C-reactive protein; NIV, non-invasive ventilation; PaO2, arterial partial pressure of oxygen; FiO2, inspiratory fraction of oxygen. Mechanical ventilation refers to invasive and/or non-invasive mechanical ventilation. * Pearson’s chi-squared test or Fisher exact test and p-value for the hypothesis of independence in the two-way table; ** p-value for non-parametric equality-of-medians test; *** PaO2/FiO2 was not available (missing value) for 12 patients.
| All patients | CT lung abnormalities at 2–3 months | CT lung abnormalities at 6–7 months | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | N (%col) | P* | N (%col) | P* | |
| 259 | 202 (78.0) | 100 (38.6) | |||
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 65 (57–73) | 67 (59–74) | < 0.001** | 68 (61–75) | < 0.001** |
| Female sex, n (%) | 79 (30.5) | 60 (29.7) | 0.599 | 31 (31.0) | 0.973 |
| Smoker, n (%) | |||||
| Never | 223 (86.1) | 170 (84.2) | 0.120 | 83 (83.0) | 0.569 |
| Previous | 32 (12.4) | 29 (14.4) | 15 (15.0) | ||
| Current | 4 (1.5) | 3 (1.49) | 2 (2.0) | ||
| COPD, n (%) | 9 (3.5) | 8 (4.0) | 0.688 | 5 (5.0) | 0.282 |
| Asthma, n (%) | 9 (3.5) | 7 (3.5) | 1.000 | 4 (4.0) | 1.000 |
| Baseline CRP (mg/dl), median (IQR) | 8.8 (4.4–15.6) | 9.6 (4.9–15.8) | 0.106** | 11.9 (5.5–16.3) | 0.001** |
| CRP peak (mg/dl), median (IQR) | 15.6 (9.5–22.5) | 16.2 (10.3–24.0) | 0.012** | 17.6 (12.8–28.1) | 0.001** |
| CRP velocity (mg/dl/day), median (IQR) | 1.2 (0.77–2.02) | 1.3 (0.8–2.0) | 0.309** | 1.4 (0.9–2.4) | 0.059** |
| CRP integral, median (IQR) | 164 (87–256) | 180 (105–287) | 0.002** | 198 (125–360) | < 0.001** |
| NIV, n (%) | 102 (39.4) | 94 (46.5) | < 0.001 | 52 (52.0) | 0.002 |
| Invasive ventilation, n (%) | 30 (11.6) | 27 (13.4) | 0.105 | 21 (21.0) | 0.001 |
| Mechanical ventilation, n (%) | 116 (44.8) | 106 (52.5) | < 0.001 | 62 (62.0) | < 0.001 |
| Lowest PaO2/FiO2 (mmHg), median (IQR)*** | 129 (85–237) | 115 (82–205) | < 0.001 | 97 (79–168) | < 0.001 |
| D-dimer peak (ng/ml), median (IQR) | 1637 (832–4043) | 1984 (952–4565) | 0.003 | 2599 (1225–5254) | < 0.001 |
| Length of hospital stay (days), median (IQR) | 17 (11–29) | 20 (14–30) | < 0.001 | 22 (16–40) | < 0.001 |