Prevalence and severity of Computed Tomography assessed pneumonia among fully vaccinated and unvaccinated adult Filipino in-patients with COVID-19 infection: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background: The study will help give a more objective look at the effects of vaccines versus COVID-19 by comparing imaging
findings of unvaccinated versus vaccinated patients. It may demonstrate the use of CT imaging in the screening for COVID-19
pneumonia in the different sub-groups of patients, as well as to help determine severity patterns of pneumonia in vaccinated and
unvaccinated patients which may guide future assessment of the disease.

Methodology: A retrospective study on COVID-19 positive adult in-patients from a tertiary hospital who underwent chest CT from 2020 to 2021 was conducted. Multiple variables were collected (demographics, vaccination status, etc). Continuous data was presented using means and standard deviations, while categorical variables were presented using frequencies and percentages. For
categorical variables, statistical differences between groups were determined using Pearson's chi-square test or Fisher's exact test; andfor continuous variables, student's t test and analysis of variance.

Results: All 174 subjects were included in this study (68 females and 106 males) have pneumonia (77 mild, 75 moderate, and 22 severe). 113 were fully vaccinated, 4 were partially vaccinated, and 57 were unvaccinated. Based on the study, vaccinated group had mean scores of 8.637, while the other group had a mean score of 11.934. The difference was statistically significant, which implies that the vaccinated group had lower pneumonia severity scores.

Conclusion: 100% of the patients reviewed had pneumonia and patients with complete vaccination status had less severe cases of pneumonia on Chest CT.