Still Short of Breath? Here Are 3 Ways COVID-19 Can Damage Lungs Long Term - ScienceAlert

As pulmonologists and critical care doctors treating patients with lung disease, we have heard many of our patients recovering from COVID-19 tell us this even months after their initial diagnosis.

These lingering effects, called long COVID, have affected as many as one in five American adults diagnosed with COVID-19.

Looking at the lungs' basic functions and how they can be affected by disease may help clarify what is on the horizon for some patients after a COVID-19 infection.

Researchers have also found that patients who have recovered from COVID-19, especially those who had severe disease, can later develop restrictive lung disease.

Finally, even when air flow and lung volume are unaffected, the lungs cannot complete their function if blood flow to the alveoli, where gas exchange occurs, is impaired.

In the long term, blood clots can also cause chronic problems with blood flow to the lungs, a condition called chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, or CTEPH.

However, there is evidence that severe COVID-19 infections can damage the blood vessels of the lung directly and impair blood flow during recovery.

Researchers and clinicians are still figuring out ways to best treat the long-term lung damage seen in long COVID.

For clinicians, closely following up with patients who have recovered from COVID-19, particularly those with persistent symptoms, can lead to quicker diagnoses of long COVID.

Other risk factors for development of long COVID include preexisting Type 2 diabetes, presence of virus particles in the blood after the initial infection and certain types of abnormal immune function.