2.1 Study design
This was a prospective controlled longitudinal study conducted in a
tertiary general hospital setting. Patients, who had been tested
positive for SARS-CoV-2 on PCR-test and were hospitalized were asked to
participate in our study. 84 COVID-patients, hospitalized for severe
COVID-19 were initially screened for inclusion in this study. After
application of the above inclusion and exclusion criteria, 53 (23 males,
30 females, 42,54 ± 10, 95 yrs.; patients-group) were found appropriate
for inclusion and were asked to participate in this study. The study
protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board
(Nr21-06022021).
Patients have been examined twice: 7 - 10 days after discharge and again
4-6 weeks later. Patients’ findings were also compared to those of 53
healthy volunteers (23 males, 30 females, 42,90 ± 10,64 yrs; healthy
subjects-group), which served as controls. The study protocol was in
agreement with the STARD 2015 guidelines.