Chronic Airway Obstruction in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Is There a Cause or Effect?

A BSTRACT Introduction: Chronic airway obstruction (CAO) is the terminology used to address chronic obstructive airway diseases, namely bronchial asthma (BA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis, and posttuberculosis (TB) COPD. We studied the profile of the CAO at the respiratory medicine department post the COVID-19 lockdown to understand any cause or effect of past COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study enrolled 164 cases of CAO. Clinical and radiological details of the two groups of CAO with and without a past history of COVID-19 were noted. Results: Of 164, 101 (61.59%) were men and 63 (38.41%) were women. Thirty-nine had a history of COVID-19. Of the 164 cases, 39 (23.7%) had BA, 51 (31.09%) had COPD, 61 (37.19%) had post-TB COPD, and 13 (7.92%) had bronchiectasis. In patients with a history of COVID-19, 9 (23.1%) had BA, 9 (23.1%) had COPD, 15 (38.5%) had post-TB COPD, and 6 (15.3%) had bronchiectasis. Eight had normal lung functions, 4 had mild obstructions, 75 had moderate obstruction, and 74 had severe obstructions. The clinical and spirometry differences in those with and without a history of COVID-19 were statistically insignificant. On high-resolution computed tomography thorax, 46 (28.1%) had emphysema, 16 (9.7%) had air trapping, 65 (39.7%) had fibrobronchiectasis, and 37 (22.5%) were normal. In patients with a history of COVID-19, 6 (15.3%) had emphysema, 2 (5.2%) had air trapping, 23 (58.9%) had fibrobronchiectasis, and 8 (20.5%) were normal. The difference in radiological findings was statistically significant and more in the group with a history of COVID-19 ( P = 0.029). Conclusion: COVID-19 did not affect the distribution, clinical characteristics of CAO, however, impacted radiological findings significantly.