COVID-19 Pneumonia Less Severe in Vaccinated Patients

COVID-19 pneumonia on computed tomography (CT) scans, an imaging surrogate for disease severity, was milder in vaccinated patients than unvaccinated patients during the Delta and Omicron variant waves of the pandemic, according to study results published in the European Journal of Radiology Open.

“This study supports the efficacy of the vaccine against COVID-19 from a radiological perspective,” researchers advised.

The retrospective study included 303 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between July 2021 and February 2022 with a CT scan 2 weeks before through 4 weeks after COVID-19 diagnosis. Among participants, 20% were in the booster/additional vaccination group, 39% were in the complete vaccination group, and 41% were in the unvaccinated group.

Even though patients in the booster/additionally vaccinated group tended to be older and have more underlying comorbidities, their pneumonia severity scores on a 6-point scale were lower than those for patients in the unvaccinated group, according to the study. Pneumonia severity scores in the booster/additionally vaccinated group were also lower than in the completely vaccinated group, although the difference was not statistically significant.

The median pneumonia severity scores were 2 for patients in the booster/additionally vaccinated group, 3 in the completely vaccinated group, and 4 in unvaccinated group, the study showed.

“Analysis of clinical outcomes also showed that the booster or additionally vaccinated patients had significantly shorter hospital stays and a lower probability of hospitalization and intensive care unit admission than the unvaccinated patients,” researchers wrote.

Reference:
Wada N, Li Y, Hino T, et al. COVID-19 vaccination reduced pneumonia severity. Eur J Radiol Open. Published online November 10, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.ejro.2022.100456