Inflammatory profiles and clinical features of COVID-19 survivors three months after discharge in Wuhan, China

Zhou, Mei; Yin, Zhengrong; Xu, Juanjuan; Wang, Sufei; Liao, Tingting; Wang, Kai; Li, Yumei; Yang, Fan; Wang, Zhen; Yang, Guanghai; Zhang, Jianchu; Yang, Jin

BACKGROUND: Post-discharge immunity and its correlation with clinical features among patients recovered from COVID-19 are poorly described. This prospective cross-sectional study explored the inflammatory profiles and clinical recovery of COVID-19 patients at 3 months post-discharge. METHODS: COVID-19 patients discharged from four hospitals in Wuhan, recovered asymptomatic patients (APs) from an isolation hotel, and uninfected healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Viral nucleic acid and antibody detection, laboratory examination, computed tomography, pulmonary function assessment, multiplex cytokine assay, and flow cytometry were performed. RESULTS: The 72 age-, sex- and body mass index-matched participants included 19 severe/critical patients (SPs), 20 mild/moderate patients (MPs), 16 APs, and 17 HCs. At 3 months after discharge, levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and factors related to vascular injury/repair in recovered COVID-19 patients had not returned to those of the HCs, especially among recovered SPs compared to recovered MPs and APs. These cytokines were significantly correlated with impaired pulmonary function and chest CT abnormalities. However, levels of immune cells had returned to nearly normal levels and were not significantly correlated with abnormal clinical features. CONCLUSION: Vascular injury, inflammation, and chemotaxis persisted in COVID-19 patients and were correlated with abnormal clinical features 3 months after discharge, especially in recovered SPs.