Publication date: Jun 25, 2025
There is limited knowledge of persisting vascular and systemic inflammation in adults recovered from COVID-19. This study aimed to assess whether inflammation from symptomatic mild-to-moderate COVID-19 persists beyond the apparent clinical resolution of disease using fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). This observational single-centre cohort study invited adults (aged >40 years) who had clinically recovered from mild-to-moderate COVID-19. Whole-body FDG-PET imaging and C-reactive protein test were performed on the same day after a minimum of 30 days after COVID-19 diagnosis. COVID-19-naive adults at high-risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) were included for comparison (n=8); thoracic FDG-PET imaging was performed for these participants. FDG-PET imaging was performed after a median of 97 days (interquartile range [IQR] 75-113 days) after COVID-19 diagnosis. Participants who recovered from COVID-19 showed an increased arterial inflammation (median standard uptake value [SUV] 3. 1; IQR 2. 7-3. 3) compared with the high-risk participants with CVD (median SUV 2. 5; IQR 2. 2-2. 8; p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Adults | COVID-19 |
| Day | FDG-PET |
| Fluorodeoxyglucose | Infection |
| Tomography | Vascular inflammation |
| Vascular |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | Arterial Inflammation |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | inflammation |
| disease | MESH | cardiovascular disease |
| disease | MESH | Long Covid |
| disease | MESH | Infection |