Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40551795›Full record

ArticleERJ open research2025

Respiratory burden in post-acute COVID-19 sequelae: a longitudinal study of airway and systemic inflammation and clinical outcomes.

Mei Nee Chiu, Abhiroop Chowdhury, Kayla Zhang, Snehal Somalwar, Rameen Jamil, Ashutosh Thakar, Karen Sidhom, Nardien Sedhom, Neel Thanavala, Manan Mukherjee and 19 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in ERJ open research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

29 authors.

Mei Nee ChiuResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Abhiroop ChowdhuryDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Kayla ZhangDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Snehal SomalwarResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Rameen JamilDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Ashutosh ThakarDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Karen SidhomDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Nardien SedhomDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Neel ThanavalaResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2683-5464
Manan MukherjeeDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Melanie KjarsgaardResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Carmen Garrido VenegasResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Nisarg RadadiaDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Nadia S TanResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Zil PatelResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Nabila AhammedResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Takuma IsshikiResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Santi NolascoResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3995-7662
Zain ChaglaDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Martin KolbResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3837-1467
Mylinh DuongResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9197-2547
Andrea S GershonSunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Parameswaran NairResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Imran SatiaResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4206-6000
Konstantinos TseliosDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Terence HoResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0412-6538
Narayanaswamy BalakrishnanDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Sarah SvenningsenResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Manali MukherjeeResearch Institute of St Joe's Hamilton, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7924-7211

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: It is unclear why patients with post-acute coronavirus disease 2019 sequelae (PACS) often present with persistent respiratory symptoms. We hypothesised that autoimmune inflammatory biomarkers may be associated with the persistence and/or resolution of these symptoms. We performed symptom-based unsupervised cluster analysis to evaluate airway and systemic immune responses in PACS participants over time. Methods: Individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, a persistent range of PACS symptoms for >12 weeks and no previous diagnosis of chronic lung disease were recruited and assessed at a 6-month follow-up. Assessments included St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), pulmonary function testing, 6-min walk test and analysis of blood and sputum inflammatory markers. Results: Unsupervised clustering based on SGRQ domains of 85 PACS individuals revealed four clusters. Cluster 1 (14%) reported no impairment and normal lung function, whereas clusters 2 (24%) and 3 (36%) were moderately symptomatic. Cluster 3 had a greater proportion of reduced lung function. Cluster 4 (26%) reported severe impairment across all SGRQ domains, with significantly lower 6-min walk distance, dyspnoea and fatigue. Clusters 3 and 4 had evidence of systemic inflammation (C-reactive protein and anti-SS-B/La). Sputum analysis showed no evidence of airway inflammation in any cluster. After 6 months, improved symptoms in 43% of individuals correlated with increased forced expiratory volume in 1 s percentage predicted and low serum interleukin-8 (p<0.05) over time. Multivariate regression suggested that a reduction in serum anti-SS-B/La IgG over 6 months was associated with improvement of SGRQ impact (t=3.17, p=0.003) and activity (t=2.04, p=0.005). Conclusions: A subset of previously healthy PACS patients have clinically relevant respiratory burden as identified by unbiased SGRQ domain analysis associated with systemic inflammation and autoantibodies.

Identifiers

PMID40551795
PMCPMC12183744

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.