Follow-up study on serum cholesterol profiles and potential sequelae in recovered COVID-19 patients

BMC Infectious Diseases

Guiling Li¹  Yao Jiang¹  Xiaoling Cao²  Vi Nguyen²  Wenbin Tan³  Xiuqi Wei⁴  Yuqi Lin⁴  Hui Wang⁵  Li Du⁶ 

[1] Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430022, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China;Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, 29209, Columbia, SC, USA;Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, 29209, Columbia, SC, USA;Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA;Department of Laboratory Medicine, Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430022, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China;Department of Laboratory Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430022, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China;Division of Gastroenterology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430022, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: LDL-c;    HDL-c;    COVID-19;    Cholesterol;    Follow-up;    CT;    Residue lesions;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12879-021-05984-1

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCOVID-19 patients develop hypolipidemia. However, it is unknown whether lipid levels have improved and there are potential sequlae in recovered patients.ObjectiveIn this follow-up study, we evaluated serum lipidemia and various physiopathological laboratory values in recovered patients.MethodsA 3–6 month follow-up study was performed between June 15 and September 3, 2020, to examine serum levels of laboratory values in 107 discharged COVID-19 patients (mild = 59; severe/critical = 48; diagnoses on admission). Sixty-one patients had a revisit chest CT scan. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze changes in laboratory values at admission and follow-up.ResultsLDL-c and HDL-c levels were significantly higher at follow-up than at admission in severe/critical cases (p <  0.05). LDL-c levels were significantly higher at follow-up than at admission in mild cases (p <  0.05). Coagulation and liver functional values were significantly improved at follow-up than at admission for patients (p <  0.05). Increases in HDL-c significantly correlated with increases in numbers of white blood cells (p <  0.001) during patients’ recovery. With exclusion of the subjects taking traditional Chinese medicines or cholesterol-lowering drugs, LDL-c and HDL-c levels were significantly increased at follow-up than at admission in severe/critical cases (p <  0.05). Residue lesions were observed in CT images in 72% (44 of 61) of follow-up patients.ConclusionsImprovements of LDL-c, HDL-c, liver functions, and incomplete resolution of lung lesions were observed at 3–6 month follow-up for recovered patients, indicating that a long-term recovery process could be required and the development of sequelae such as pulmonary fibrosis could be expected in some patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY