Comparative Study of High-Resolution Computed Tomography Features in Coronavirus Disease-19 Pneumonia Patients in Different Stages of Adult Life

Abstract Background: COVID-19 can lead to serious respiratory problems, including pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and even death. Therefore, chest computed tomog-raphy (CT) is considered a substantial tool for identifying infected patients. Moreover, it is helpful for follow-up and evaluation of the response to treatment. Aim of the Study: The study aimed at comparing high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) chest features among adult COVID-19 pneumonia patients in relation to their age category. Patients and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted during the period from February 2021 to July 2021. It included 176 adult patients presented to the Outpatient Clinics of the Chest Diseases and Internal Medicine Depart-ments, Bab Al-Sha'reia University Hospital, Cairo, with history and clinical picture suggesting COVID-19 infection, proved by positive reverse transcription real-time PCR (rt RT-PCR) test in their respiratory tract swabs, with their HRCT chest revealed radiological evidence of pneumonia. Studied patients were divided into three groups, depending on their age cate-gory; (1) Elderly group, (2) Middle-age group and (3) Young adults group. Results: Ground glass opacities (GGOs), vascular dilata-tion and consolidation were the most frequent patterns in all studied groups. There were no statistically significant differ-ences in HRCT chest radiological patterns between the elderly group and the young adults group, neither between the later and the middle-age group. Statistically significant differences were only present between the elderly and the middle-age groups, as the first showed higher frequencies of interlobular septal thickening, bronchiectatic changes and vascular dilata-tion (p-values=0.004, 0.027 and 0.018 respectively). No statistically significant differences were observed among the study groups as regard the main pattern of abnor-malities distribution. Bilateral and multilobar shadows were significantly abundant in the elderly group patients compared with the two other groups, while isolated left and unilobar affections were more frequent among the younger groups compared with the elderly one. Unilateral right infiltrations were significantly more repetitive among the young adults group patients when compared with the elderly one, whilst bilobar affection showed non-significant variations among all groups. Conclusion: The frequency of HRCT chest patterns in COVID-19 pneumonia do not vary greatly among patients in different stages of adult life. On the other hand, bilaterality, multilobar affection and heavy infiltrations are more associated with elderly people.