Clinical and Radiological Features of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Patients Who Had Recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the impact of PERVIOUS COVID-19, pneumonia on the clinical, radiological , laboratory, and prognostic charactertics of patients diagnosed with Community-acquired pneumonia. Methods: The files of the cases who received inpatient treatment with the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia between December 2021 and January 2023 were examined retrospectively. Patient characteristics including age, gender, lab values, radiological findings, and CURB-65 and Pneumonia Weight Scores (PSI) were documented. The patients were split into two categories: those with a past COVID-19 diagnosis (group 1) and those who had never had the disease (group 2). The findings of both groups were compared, and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.0. Results: A total of 141 cases, 61 (43.21%) were female, with a mean age of 71.71 +/- 15.42 years. There were 69 (48.96%) individuals in group 1 and 72 (51.14%) in group 2. The mean lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) value of the patients in group 1 upon hospital admission was 321 +/- 132.81 and was 274 +/- 95.93 in group 2 (p=0.022). Apart from this, no meaningful variation in clinical, imaging, or lab parameters was found when the two groups were compared. Conclusion: Patients with pneumonia who had had COVID-19 before and recovered had no differences in clinical, radiologic, or prognostic findings in terms of pneumonia compared with those who had not had COVID-19. However, interestingly, serum LDH levels of these patients were high.