Long-term effects of COVID-19 on lungs and the clinical relevance: a 6-month prospective cohort study - Supplemental Figure 1

Background: We aimed to explore the prevalence of prolonged symptoms, pulmonary impairments and

residual disease on chest tomography (CT) in COVID-19 patients at 6 months after acute illness. Methods: In

this prospective, single-center study, hospitalized patients with radiologically and laboratory-confirmed

COVID-19 were included. Results: A high proportion of the 116 patients reported persistent symptoms

(n = 54; 46.6%). On follow-up CT, 33 patients (28.4%) demonstrated residual disease. Multivariate analyses

revealed that only neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was an independent predictor for residual disease.

Conclusion: Hospitalized patients with mild/moderate COVID-19 still had persistent symptoms and were

prone to develop long-term pulmonary sequelae on chest CT. However, it did not have a significant effect

on long-term pulmonary functions.