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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Luke Milross, Dr Joaquim Majo, Bethany Hunter, Dr Christopher DuncanORCiD, Professor Andrew FilbyORCiD, Professor Andrew FisherORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© The authors 2022.Background: Post-mortem examination of lung and heart tissue has been vital to developing an understanding of COVID-19 pathophysiology, however studies to date have almost uniformly used tissue obtained from hospital-based deaths where individuals have been exposed to major medical and pharmacological interventions. Methods: In this study we investigated patterns of lung and heart injury from 46 community-based, pre-hospital COVID-19-attributable deaths who underwent autopsy. Results: The cohort comprised 22 females and 24 males, median age 64 years (range 19-91) at time of death with illness duration range 0-23 days. Comorbidities associated with poor outcomes in COVID-19 were represented with obesity (BMI>30kg/m2) in 19/46 cases (41.3%). Diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) in its early exudative phase was the most common pattern of lung injury, however significant heterogeneity was identified with bronchopneumonia, pulmonary oedema consistent with acute cardiac failure, pulmonary thromboembolism and microthombosis also identified and often in overlapping patterns. Review of clinical records and next of kin accounts suggested a combination of unexpectedly low symptom burden, rapidly progressive disease and psychosocial factors may have contributed to a failure of hospital presentation prior to death. Conclusions: Identifying such advanced acute lung injury in community-based deaths is extremely unusual and raises the question why some with severe COVID-19 pneumonitis were not hospitalised. Multiple factors that include low symptom burden, rapidly progressive disease trajectories and psychosocial factors provide possible explanations.
Author(s): Milross L, Majo J, Pulle J, Hoggard S, Cooper N, Hunter B, Duncan CJA, Filby A, Fisher AJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: ERJ Open Research
Year: 2022
Volume: 8
Issue: 4
Online publication date: 27/12/2022
Acceptance date: 04/10/2022
Date deposited: 29/06/2023
ISSN (electronic): 2312-0541
Publisher: European Respiratory Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00303-2022
DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00303-2022
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