COVID-19 and interstitial lung diseases: A multifaceted look at the relationship between the two diseases

PainSci » bibliography » Fukihara et al 2023
updated Aug 6, 2024

Two pages on PainSci cite Fukihara 2023: 1. Strength Training for Pain & Injury Rehab 2. Common lung dysfunction makes people weaker

Simple pen & ink illustration of a pair of lungs, not anatomically correct, tinted red unevenly indicated inflammation/disease.

PainSci commentary on Fukihara 2023: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.

Covid probably definitely aggravates interstitial lung disease, and may even cause it in people who went in without ILD, but much of the existing data on this is from early in the pandemic, when Covid was less well controlled. Covid today is probably much less to cause ILD, along with all other complications, thanks to vaccinated patients, antivirals, and steroid therapy at the right time to blunt a cytokine storm.

But even well-managed Covid continues to be nastier than influenza. So the potential to cause ILD clearly remains. And even mild ILD is very bad news. For instance, we know that it makes people significant weaker (see Garcia).

It’s worth noting that this paper also discussed some evidence of Covid vaccine-induced ILD — which is fully expected if Covid itself causes ILD. Vaccines, by nature, always cause the same problems that infections cause — but less often, and less severely! In this context, any evidence that vaccination can cause some ILD simply backs up the evidence that Covid also does — and more often, and more severely.

~ Paul Ingraham

original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although it has been a fatal disease for many patients, the development of treatment strategies and vaccines have progressed over the past 3 years, and our society has become able to accept COVID-19 as a manageable common disease. However, as COVID-19 sometimes causes pneumonia, post-COVID pulmonary fibrosis (PCPF), and worsening of preexisting interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), it is still a concern for pulmonary physicians. In this review, we have selected several topics regarding the relationships between ILDs and COVID-19. The pathogenesis of COVID-19-induced ILD is currently assumed based mainly on the evidence of other ILDs and has not been well elucidated specifically in the context of COVID-19. We have summarized what has been clarified to date and constructed a coherent story about the establishment and progress of the disease. We have also reviewed clinical information regarding ILDs newly induced or worsened by COVID-19 or anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Inflammatory and profibrotic responses induced by COVID-19 or vaccines have been thought to be a risk for de novo induction or worsening of ILDs, and this has been supported by the evidence obtained through clinical experience over the past 3 years. Although COVID-19 has become a mild disease in most cases, it is still worth looking back on the above-reviewed information to broaden our perspectives regarding the relationship between viral infection and ILD. As a representative etiology for severe viral pneumonia, further studies in this area are expected.

original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.

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