COVID-19 as a risk factor for the development of pulmonary fibrosis in a referral hospital in Lima, Peru

• Autores: Rivero-Moreno, Yeisson, García-Gil, Vanessa, García-Nunes, Andrea, Rivas-Pérez, Miguel, Montero-Palma, Erinor, Chávez-Contreras, Andrea, Ramírez-Calderón, Gino, Martínez-Merizalde, Nelson, Gonzales-Uribe, Antony, Areyan-Gamboa, Estefhany, Morales-Cornieles, Kevin, Lezama-Graterol, Rafael
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2025
• Institución: Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
• Repositorio: UPC-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorioacademico.upc.edu.pe:10757/684691
• Enlace del recurso: https://doi.org/10.5867/medwave.2025.02.2962; http://hdl.handle.net/10757/684691
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: COVID-19; hypertension; Peru; pulmonary fibrosis; risk factor; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.06.00

INTRODUCTION The emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, but we must study the potential sequelae left in the population. Cases of pulmonary fibrosis have been reported after severe COVID-19. However, the association between these factors has not been widely studied in Latin American countries, one of the regions most affected by the pandemic. METHODS A case-control study was conducted to determine whether a history of hospitalization due to COVID-19 is a risk factor for developing pulmonary fibrosis. We compared patients with a radiological diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis on high-resolution computed tomography (cases) with those without such findings (controls), conducted between March 2021 and June 2023 in a referral hospital in Lima, Peru. RESULTS Among the total number of patients evaluated, the median age was 72 years, with a predominance of females (58.2%). 7.5% of patients with pulmonary fibrosis had a history of hospitalization due to COVID-19, compared to 6.1% in the control group (OR 1.24; 95% CI 0.65 to 2.36). The stratified analysis revealed a significant odds ratio for the group of patients with arterial hypertension (OR 5.9; 95% CI 1.28 to 27.34). The median follow-up after hospitalization for COVID-19 was 315.5 days. CONCLUSIONS Hospitalization due to COVID-19 was not a risk factor for developing pulmonary fibrosis one year after medical discharge, except in patients with hypertension. Evidence suggests that the prevalence of pulmonary fibrosis may decrease over time.