Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 23, 2025 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Medical News: A Common but Overlooked Killer in COVID-19 Patients
A new Romanian study has revealed that a surprisingly high 36.2 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed Acute Pulmonary Edema, a condition that is frequently overlooked in emergency settings despite dramatically worsening survival. The research team came from the Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, the Timisoara Institute of Legal Medicine, the Dr Victor Popescu Emergency Military Hospital, and affiliated clinical departments. This shocking percentage highlights the scale of a problem many clinicians may underestimate, as APE often disguises itself as simple pneumonia or typical COVID-related breathing difficulty. According to this
Medical News report, patients who developed APE had a much higher risk of death and long-term lung damage.
Researchers report that 36.2 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed often-overlooked Acute Pulmonary Edema linked to high mortality and long-term lung injury
What the Researchers Discovered
The team reviewed 127 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and found that those with APE were more likely to be older, have hypertension, or show early signs of cardiac strain. Laboratory tests showed striking patterns: extremely high NT-proBNP levels, elevated troponin, and high IL-6. These markers signaled that the lungs were filling with fluid not just from inflammation but also from heart stress and damaged blood vessels. The fact that more than a third of patients—36.2 percent—developed APE makes this finding impossible to ignore. Patients with APE were four times more likely to die than others. Mortality hit 43.5 percent, compared with only 12.3 percent among those without this complication. Despite this major difference, APE still remains underdiagnosed because its symptoms overlap with ordinary COVID-19 breathlessness.
Long Term Damage Often Lingers
At the three-month follow-up, nearly 40 percent of APE survivors showed clear signs of lung fibrosis on CT scans, together with reduced breathing capacity and chronic fatigue. Many continued to experience breathlessness, showing that the effects of APE continue long after the infection ends. Biomarkers such as NT-proBNP and IL-6 also remained high in a large number of survivors, suggesting ongoing injury inside the heart and blood vessels.
Why These Findings Matter
These results show that APE is not a rare complication—it affects more than one-third of hospitalized patients—and often determines who lives and who dies during severe COVID-19. The study emphasizes the need for early testing of NT-proBNP, troponin, and IL-6, along with better recognition of this commonly missed condition. Stronger monitoring, early diuretics, and coordinated cardiac and lung follow-up could save many lives. The conclusions make it clear that missing APE in the early stages can lead to preventable deaths and long-term disability, and health systems must adapt quickly to detect this silent but severe complication.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed: Journal of Clinical Medicine.
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/14/22/8188
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Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/coronavirus
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/long-covid
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