Statistical Analyses
Data are expressed as median (IQR) or number (%) where appropriate.
Continuous data are compared with the Mann Whitney U test, and
categorical data with the Chi square test. According to a study
performed in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), 30% of patients
showed abnormal radiological findings at the 6 month follow
up24. We also hypothesized that Covid 19 patients
requiring ICU admission would have a 2-fold increase in the lung
involvement at the 6 months follow up CT scan when compared with non-ICU
patients. Assuming that 30% of non-ICU patients and 60% of ICU
patients will have lung involvement in the 6-month follow-up CT, with a
5% type 1 error and 80% power, 40 patients in each group were needed
for the analysis. A p value of <0.05 was considered as
significant.