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Background/Objectives: Individuals with post-COVID-19 conditions risk developing short- and/or long-term neuromuscular impairments, including postural imbalance. However, there is limited evidence showing whether balance deficits are associated with declines in the functional status in post-COVID-19 individuals. This study examined postural balance in non-hospitalized post-COVID-19 individuals using different assessment tools and tested the most relevant balance tools in predicting functional status. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 60 adults split into control (n = 30) and post-COVID-19 (n = 30) groups. Postural balance was assessed in both groups using the Functional Reach Test (FRT), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go (TUG), Tinetti Balance Test (Tinetti), and Mini-BESTest (MBT). Functional status in the post-COVID-19 group was assessed using post-COVID-19 functional status (PCFS). Results: Significant differences in postural stability between groups were found only for the FRT. All balance tests showed a statistically significant correlation with PCFS in the post-COVID-19 group, with better performance in all tests being associated with better functional status: Tinetti (r = −0.584), FRT (r = −0.542), MBT (r = −0.530), BBS (r = −0.415) and TUG (r = 0.368). Tinetti was the independent variable that significantly played an important role in determining PCFS (adjusted R2 = 0.318, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Post-COVID-19 functional status is best determined by the Tinetti Balance Test, making it an effective tool for assessing postural balance deficits in this population, with potential implications for postural control assessment and rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Early detection of the effects of smoking is of the utmost importance in the prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The forced oscillation technique (FOT) is easy to perform since it requires only tidal breathing and offers a detailed approach to investigate the mechanical properties of the respiratory system. The FOT was recently suggested as an attractive alternative for diagnosing initial obstruction in COPD, which may be helpful in detecting COPD in its initial phases. Thus, the purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to evaluate the ability of FOT to detect early smoking-induced respiratory alterations; and (2) to compare the sensitivity of FOT with spirometry in a sample of low tobacco-dose subjects. Methods Results from a group of 28 smokers with a tobacco consumption of 11.2 ± 7.3 pack-years were compared with a control group formed by 28 healthy subjects using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and a questionnaire as a gold standard. The early adverse effects of smoking were adequately detected by the absolute value of the respiratory impedance (Z4Hz), the intercept resistance (R0), and the respiratory system dynamic compliance (Crs, dyn). Z4Hz was the most accurate parameter (Se = 75%, Sp = 75%), followed by R0 and Crs, dyn. The performances of the FOT parameters in the detection of the early effects of smoking were higher than that of spirometry (p < 0.05). Conclusion This study shows that FOT can be used to detect early smoking-induced respiratory changes while these pathologic changes are still potentially reversible. These findings support the use of FOT as a versatile clinical diagnostic tool in aiding COPD prevention and treatment.

BACKGROUND: With increased survival rates and the consequent emergence of an adult population with cystic fibrosis (CF), developing novel tools for periodic evaluations of these patients has become a new challenge. Thus, we sought to determine the contribution of lung-volume quantification using multidetector computed tomography (CT) in adults with CF and to investigate the association between structural changes and functional abnormalities. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which 21 adults with CF and 22 control subjects underwent lung-volume quantification using multidetector CT. Voxel densities were divided into 4 bands: -1,000 to -900 Hounsfield units (HU) (hyperaerated region), -900 to -500 HU (normally aerated region), -500 to - 100 HU (poorly aerated region), and -100 to 100 HU (non-aerated region). In addition, all participants performed pulmonary function tests including spirometry, body plethysmography, diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, and the forced oscillation technique. RESULTS: Adults with CF had more non-aerated regions and poorly aerated regions with lung-volume quantification using multidetector CT than controls. Despite these abnormalities, total lung volume measured by lung-volume quantification using multidetector CT did not differ between subjects and controls. Total lung capacity (TLC) measured by body plethysmography correlated with both total lung volume (rs = 0.71, P < .001) and total air volume (rs = 0.71, P < .001) as measured with lungvolume quantification using multidetector CT. While the hyperaerated regions correlated with the functional markers of gas retention in the lungs (increased residual volume (RV) and RV/TLC ratio), the poorly aerated regions correlated with the resistive parameters measured by the forced oscillation technique (increased intercept resistance and mean resistance). We also observed a correlation between normally aerated regions and highest pulmonary diffusion values (rs = 0.68, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: In adults with CF, lung-volume quantification using multidetector CT can destimate the lung volumes of compartments with different densities and determine the aerated and non-aerated contents of the lungs; furthermore, lung-volume quantification using multidetector CT is clearly related to pulmonary function parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]