The European Respiratory Society (ERS) Task Force (TF) identified the need for a statement to identify approaches to optimise clinical follow-up care in patients with long COVID.
The multidisciplinary TF of ERS members, specialists in pneumonology, radiology and outcomes assessment convened on December 23, 2020. Key clinical questions relating to the follow-up of patients with long COVID-19 were identified and prioritised by consensus. The TF was approved as part of ERS TF-2020-14 (“The European Respiratory Society Guideline for Management of COVID-19”, chairs J. Chalmers, N. Roche) and follows other ERS COVID-19 initiatives [statement references 1–3]. The TF reviewed features of acute disease that could predict long-term consequences, data on thromboembolic event risk, as well as infection control during the long COVID-19 period. Further, the TF reviewed the evidence for cardiopulmonary and imaging techniques and techniques for cognitive, psychological, disability and home care follow-up.
Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection frequently experience symptom burden post-acute infection or post-hospitalisation. We aim to identify optimal strategies for follow-up care that may positively impact the patient’s quality-of-life (QOL).A European Respiratory Society (ERS) Task Force (TF) convened and prioritised eight clinical questions.
Educational aims
A targeted search of the literature defined the time line of long COVID-19 as one to six months post infection and identified clinical evidence in the follow-up of patients. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria report an association of characteristics of acute infection with persistent symptoms, thromboembolic events in the follow-up period and evaluations of pulmonary physiology and imaging. Importantly, this statement reviews QOL consequences, symptom burden, disability and home care follow-up.
Overall, the evidence for follow-up care for patients with long COVID-19 is limited.The audience will gain a lot of new information about the best clinical approach to follow-up patients with Long Covid, regarding the main issues of pulmonary physiology (covering both parenchyma and vasculature), imaging with HRCT, and quality of life.
Format
- 3 lectures with clinical case discussion followed by Q&A
Topics
- Which follow-up strategies relate to pulmonary physiology? (Prof. Anh Tuan Dinh-Xuan)
- Which follow-up strategies relate to imaging? (Prof. Nicola Sverzellati)
- Which follow-up strategies relate to cognitive, psychological and quality-of-life consequences? (Prof. Anne-Marie Russell)
CME credit
This webinar has been accredited by the European Board for Accreditation in Pneumology (EBAP), 1 CME credit per 1-hour attendance. The CME credit will be granted upon attendance of at least 60 minutes during the live webinar only.
What is a webinar?
The webinar closely simulates a lecture-based teaching experience. The speaker can interact with the audience, just as in a classroom setting.
This webinar comprises of a 45-minute lecture followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer sessions. During the webinar you will be asked to share your opinion on issues related to the topic using interactive polls.
All participants will be able to hear the lecturer and see the slides throughout the presentation. As a participant you will be able to pose questions or discuss ideas with the other participants via the text chat facility and the speaker will respond to the questions via the microphone.
Login guidelines
More information will be communicated in due course.
- Please log in to the webinar 20 minutes before it is scheduled to commence. If you have any technical difficulties whilst trying to log in or during the session please contact e-learning@ersnet.org.
- Check Central European Summer Time.
- To achieve the best quality, we recommend to avoid downloading anything from the internet during your connection to the lecture and stopping all other programmes.
- Please also ensure that your audio settings are not set to mute and adjust the volume to a comfortable level.
Diseases / methods
- Respiratory infections
Target audience
- Pulmonologists
- Clinicians
- Patients
- Nurses
- Therapists
- Residents
- Fellows