Skeletal Lesions in Covid-19 patients compared to Tuberculosis patients

Abstract

In paleopathology, skeletal lesions have been identified in individuals with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) and chronic respiratory infections. These infections cause inflammation of the pleural cavity, and in some cases cause secondary osteoarticular infections, creating lesions on the ribs and vertebrae. Similarly, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infections cause inflammation of the pleural cavity, and the virus can migrate. Long-term SARS-CoV-2 complications are underexplored. The authors believe that SARS-CoV-2 may also lead to rib and vertebral lesions. The purpose of this study was to determine if TB or COVID-19 led to rib and vertebral lytic lesions visible on radiographs. Chi-square was used to compare the prevalence of skeletal lesions on chest radiographs among COVID-19, TB, and control groups. Each group consisted of 50 chest radiographs. Radiographs were reviewed using standardized systematic interpretation. When comparing COVID-19 patients to control patients, a statistically significant increase in rib lesions was observed (p=0.000134). For the TB group, a statistically significant increase in rib lesions was observed when compared with controls (p=0.00000312). However, evaluation of vertebral lesions in both TB and COVID-19 patients showed no statistically significant difference compared with controls (p=0.307; p=0.558). When comparing rib lesions across TB, COVID-19, and control groups, there was a statistically significant difference (p=0.000142), indicating that infectious etiologies were associated with an increased frequency of rib lesions. Comparison of vertebral lesions across all groups demonstrated no significance (p=0.594). These findings suggest that rib involvement may be more commonly associated with infectious etiologies on chest radiography, whereas vertebral lesions do not appear to differ significantly.