Clinical and imaging features of patients with COVID-19 in a double-center cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: There is extensive published data on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, information on the effective factors that improve the pulmonary involvement of COVID-19 patients, and long-term clinical and imaging follow-up of these patients is limited.

METHODOLOGY: This is a prospective cohort study on patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in two major academic hospitals in Yazd, Iran. The correlation between the baseline demographic and clinical/para-clinical data with the imaging resolution status at day 60 was assessed.

RESULTS: 122 patients, including 65 males, with an average age of 53.43 years participated in this study. Age, gender, baseline oxygen saturation (O2Sat), and the percentage of lung involvement were the main prognostic factors. Our results suggest that with every year increase in age, the probability of complete imaging resolution decreases by 6.4%. In addition, women are 2.07 times more likely to recover completely. Moreover, each percent increase of baseline O2Sat makes the patients 15.4% more likely to fully recover. As the patients' shortness of breath increases, the probability of recovery decreases by 9.8%.;56.7% of patients who did not recover after 60 days had persistent shortness of breath, while only 21% of those who recovered had symptoms of dyspnea after day 60.

CONCLUSIONS: Age, gender, baseline O2Sat, percentage of lung involvement, and shortness of breath were identified as the main risk factors in the recovery of patients with COVID-19. Long-term follow-up of patients with COVID-19, especially patients with high-risk factors, is necessary.