The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose extraordinary challenges to clinicians, patients,
and health-care services worldwide. Anticipating substantial burdens of multisystem
and psychological morbidity, many organisations have instituted post-COVID-19 clinical
services. Exponential increases in case numbers at the peak of the pandemic necessitated
rapid implementation of follow-up pathways that evolved in response to clinical need
and, in the absence of robust COVID-19-specific data, through extrapolation of post-critical
illness evidence and observations made during previous coronavirus outbreaks. As the
daily incidence of COVID-19 continues to rise, there is an urgent need to establish
adequately resourced, multidisciplinary post-COVID-19 care pathways, informed by evaluation
of recent shared experience.
The spectrum of fibrotic lung disease observed in COVID-19 ranges from fibrosis associated
with organising pneumonia to severe acute lung injury with evolution to widespread
fibrotic change. Early observations indicate that impaired diffusion capacity is the
most common lung function abnormality in discharged COVID-19 survivors, followed by
restrictive ventilatory defects. These observations parallel those of previous SARS
and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus outbreaks. In an early follow-up
study of patients with SARS, 15 (62%) of 24 patients had CT evidence of pulmonary
fibrosis 4–6 weeks after discharge. However, the natural history of COVID-19 pneumonia
is yet to be fully established, and labelling lung changes as indicative of irreversible
fibrosis is premature. Indeed, the commonest pattern of evolution observed in early
COVID-19 case series was initial progression to a peak level followed by radiographic
improvement, and long-term data from SARS survivors show resolution of restrictive
lung function defects and improvement or stability of ground-glass changes. The impact
of pulmonary sequelae could be outweighed by chronic extrapulmonary COVID-19 manifestations.
SARS and moderate-to-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring critical
care admission are associated with adverse physiological and psychological outcomes,
with functional limitation likely related to muscle wasting and weakness and impaired
health-related quality of life observed at 6 and 12 months. Preliminary data from
COVID-19 survivors indicate a high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (28%),
anxiety (42%), and depression (31%) 1 month after hospitalisation.
Given the well described extrapulmonary manifestations of acute COVID-19 (including
venous thromboembolism, renal failure, liver dysfunction, myocarditis, and delirium),
prompt follow-up is necessary to identify potential complications, such as pulmonary
hypertension, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, and neurocognitive impairment.
However, several hurdles must be overcome to deliver this. First, the spectrum of
clinical sequelae has not yet been defined. Designing a clinical service is therefore
challenging, since appropriate patient-centric outcome measures and follow-up timeframes
remain unknown. However, sequelae of severe COVID-19 pneumonia might parallel those
of critical illness, and we can draw upon experiences of post-intensive care programmes
to select appropriate tools that facilitate early recognition and management of post-COVID-19
sequelae and mitigate their long-term implications. Second, the backlog created by
temporary cessation of outpatient services challenges already stretched resources.
Thus, while acknowledging the value of core outcome sets that are well established
in acute respiratory failure research, outcome measures implemented in a busy clinical
service during the COVID-19 pandemic must be selected pragmatically to yield maximum
clinical utility while avoiding imposition of excessive burdens on both patients and
clinicians. The need for staff training, equipment, and clinic space, and the ability
to adhere to infection control precautions, need to be considered. Third, potential
aerosolisation of respiratory droplets limits several diagnostic and therapeutic resources.
Lung function testing is gradually restarting, but strict infection control precautions
limit availability and careful judgment is required as to whether testing is needed
to guide patient management. Meanwhile, face-to-face rehabilitation programmes remain
largely suspended. Finally, the multisystem involvement and novelty of the disease
requires integration of cross-specialty and allied health-care activity within a service
that is adaptable to patient need as our understanding of COVID-19 sequelae evolves.
As an inherently multidisciplinary speciality, respiratory departments are well placed
to facilitate this and indeed have been integral in delivering both acute and follow-up
care during the pandemic. However, the ideal supervising department for post-COVID-19
care should be that which is best resourced to assimilate and deliver patient-centred
multidisciplinary care.
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Similar to other centres, our post-COVID-19 clinic was developed at the height of
the pandemic with no additional funding, therefore patient selection and rationalisation
of clinical assessments were paramount. Building on British Thoracic Society guidelines,
we invite patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (locally defined as
requiring a fraction of inspired oxygen ≥40% or critical care admission) to attend
face-to-face appointments 4–6 weeks after discharge. A summary of our clinical evaluation
is depicted in the appendix. All patients have a chest x-ray and specific enquiry
is made about the presence and severity of persistent breathlessness, cough, sleep
disturbance, fatigue, or pain. Patient-reported outcomes are evaluated using validated
questionnaires (modified Medical Research Council Breathlessness scale, Patient Health
Questionnaire-9, Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 assessment, Trauma Screening Questionnaire,
Nijmegen Questionnaire, and 6-item Cognitive Impairment Test). To objectively assess
mobility impairment, we use the 4-m gait speed and 1-min sit-to-stand tests. These
tests require minimal staff training and clinic space, and are quick, reliable, validated
techniques that correlate closely with conventional measures of exercise capacity
(incremental shuttle and 6-min walk tests), allowing comparisons with existing data.
Importantly, they facilitate identification of (often asymptomatic) oxygen desaturation
warranting further evaluation. Our service currently invites survivors of severe COVID-19
pneumonia to attend follow-up evaluation, and we acknowledge the as-yet-undefined
burden of non-severe COVID-19. There is increasing awareness of those with so-called
long COVID, in whom symptoms persist for weeks or months after the acute phase of
illness, which is likely to continue to affect both primary and secondary health-care
providers.
In developing this service, we have strengthened pre-existing relationships with numerous
specialities. Specialist respiratory physiologists conduct functional tests before
physician review, CT scans requested for patients with persistent radiographic opacification,
symptoms, or desaturation (including high-resolution CT and pulmonary angiography,
with or without ventilation–perfusion single-photon emission CT) are discussed at
radiology multidisciplinary meetings. Pathways are also in place to refer patients
with extrapulmonary disease to appropriate clinical specialities, and those who required
intensive care unit admission are reviewed by the critical care team on the same day.
Regular service evaluation is done to monitor the utility of the selected outcome
measures, enabling evolution of the service in response to patient need.
Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on an individual and societal level, we
have been given an opportunity to strengthen clinical and academic multidisciplinary
relationships, and develop a de-novo clinical service that is practical, simple to
deliver, and facilitates holistic assessment of physical and psychological sequelae
of severe COVID-19 pneumonia. With sustained rises in confirmed cases worldwide, increasing
interest and engagement from funding bodies and health-care management, and emergence
of long-term data, we continue to adapt and rationalise our service to deliver evidence-based
post-COVID-19 care.