• Ipek Candemir, Pinar Ergun, Mustafa Engin Şahin, and Harun Karamanli.
• Ataturk Chest Diseases and Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. ipekcayli@yahoo.com.
• Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 2023 May 1; 135 (9-10): 260265260-265.

BackgroundAfter COVID-19 infection, persistent exercise intolerance, changes in lung function have been shown. Our aim is to investigate the correlation between impulse oscillometry (IOS) parameters and exercise capacity by using incremental and endurance shuttle walk tests (ISWT, ESWT) and investigate the factors and parameters which might have an effect on both IOS parameters and exercise capacity tests.MethodThe patients who had a history of COVID-19 were enrolled into cross-sectional study according to inclusion criteria. The IOS parameters, ISWT, ESWT, smoking status, time since COVID-19 diagnosis, length of hospital stay, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), body mass index (BMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), dyspnea, hospital anxiety-depression and fatigue severity scores were recorded.ResultsThe study comprised 72 patients, 71% of whom were male, with a mean age of 54 ± 10 years. After COVID-19 diagnosis, the median duration was 3 (min: 1, max: 5) months and 51 (71%) of the patients were hospitalized. The FEV1 and FVC values were in normal range. The area of reactance (AX), resonance frequency (Fres), reactance at 20 Hz (X20) and the difference between resonance at 20 and 5 Hz (R5-20) correlated with both ISWT and ESWT. The FEV1 correlated with all IOS parameters (p < 0.05). Reactance correlated with FFMI (p = 024, r = 0.267), different according to hospitalization (p = 0.02).ConclusionIn COVID-19 survivors, there could be correlations between IOS parameters and exercise capacity; and between these parameters and FEV and FVC. Furthermore, small airway disease with normal spirometric functions could be related to decreased exercise capacity in COVID-19 survivors regardless of concomitant diseases, BMI, smoking status and time since COVID-19 diagnosis.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.

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