Abstract
Background and aim: Some patients continue to experience symptoms
related to COVID-19 after the acute phase of infection. Imaging studies,
especially chest computerized tomography (CT), has been gaining
importance from the beginning of the pandemic with its ability of
diagnosing COVID-19, assessing the extent of pulmonary involvement,
predicting disease severity. We intend to define the frequency of
persistent symptoms and correlate the presence of persistent symptoms
with laboratory findings and CT severity levels. Methods and Materials:
We tried to patients who had been discharged from the study hospital
after the treatment and who had a positive nasopharyngeal swab result
for SARS-CoV-2, after at least four weeks from the initial diagnosis.
The patients were questioned for the presence of persisting symptoms. In
addition to demographic data, laboratory results and CT severity levels
were recorded. Results: 116 patients were included into the study. 61
patients reported at least one persisting symptom (52.5%). Mean age of
the population is 48.90±17.74 years. Shortness of breath, chest pain,
cough, muscle weakness, dizziness, headache, fatigue, and palpitation
were found as persisting symptoms. Mean CT severity score value of the
population is 3.80±0.38. Mean CT severity score value is lower in
patients without any persistent symptoms. Conclusion: CRP, fibrinogen
levels, anemia and female gender were associated with some of the
persistent symptoms. CT severity, as being a successful predictor for
disease severity/prognosis, is also related with future long COVID
presence, and CT severity is related with more persistent symptoms than
laboratory parameters.