#Many COVID-19 patients still have lung issues months after recovering: study

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A medical personnel looks at a scanned image of a coronavirus patient’s lung at the Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, Iran.
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At least 70 percent of coronavirus patients in a new study were still suffering from lung trouble months after leaving the hospital.

Researchers in Henan Province, China, looked at 55 patients who had since recovered and been cleared to go to work, according to the findings published in the journal EClinicalMedicine.

Only four of the cases had been considered severe, though none required a ventilator, the study says.

But three months after being discharged, many of the patients were still experiencing lingering symptoms. Nearly two-thirds complained of problems that included shortness of breath, cough, gastrointestinal issues and headaches.

And though none had pre-existing lung problems, the majority were now plagued with respiratory issues.

Researchers found 39 of the patients had lung abnormalities in their CT scans, and one out of four patients experienced reduced lung function in their breathing tests.

The findings come amid mounting evidence of previously-healthy patients suffering from puzzling symptoms months after testing negative.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, who wasn’t involved in the study but reviewed the findings, said the results “certainly indicate that for many people who’ve been hospitalized with COVID-19, regaining normal lung function may take a while.”

“Moving forward, it will be important to conduct larger and longer-term studies of COVID-19 recovery in people of diverse backgrounds to continue to learn more about what it means to survive COVID-19,” he wrote.