Table 3.
Subgroup analysis to explore heterogeneity in the estimate of the pooled prevalence of pulmonary fibrosis
| Studies (k) | Patients (n) | Pooled prevalence (95% CI) | I2 (%) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 18 | 2597 | 0.32 (0.23–0.40) | 96.59 | |
| Follow-up interval after initial presentation (months) | 0.290 | ||||
| 6 | 11 | 1254 | 0.36 (0.24–0.47) | 95.10 | |
| 12 | 7 | 1343 | 0.26 (0.11–0.40) | 97.74 | |
| Risk of bias of study | 0.966 | ||||
| Low-to-intermediate | 9 | 1880 | 0.31 (0.18–0.44) | 97.80 | |
| Intermediate-to-high | 9 | 717 | 0.32 (0.19–0.44) | 94.05 | |
| Proportion of patients with severe COVID-19 (%)a | 0.014 | ||||
| ≥ 50 | 10 | 1804 | 0.36 (0.23–0.50) | 73.90 | |
| < 50 | 6 | 534 | 0.18 (0.12–0.24) | 88.62 | |
| Pulmonary fibrosis definition | 0.102 | ||||
| Defined clearly in the original article | 10 | 1540 | 0.38 (0.23–0.52) | 97.63 | |
| Estimated by the authors | 8 | 1057 | 0.24 (0.15–0.33) | 91.59 | |
COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019
aSome studies included in the overall meta-analysis did not report data on the disease severity of patients and were therefore not included in the subgroup analysis