Analysis of the detection results of pulmonary nodules before and after the novel coronavirus epidemic——A multicenter retrospective analysis

Abstract Objective: To analyse the screening results of pulmonary nodules before and after the COVID-19 epidemic to understand the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic on the detection rate of pulmonary nodules and the detection rate of malignant pulmonary nodules. Methods: A total of 18,906 cases of chest CT were completed from March to November 2022 and March to November 2023. In March-December 2022 was divided into pre-epidemic group, and subjects from March-December 2023 were divided into post-epidemic group. the detection rate of pulmonary nodules, suspected lung cancer and lung cancer nodules, different age group, sex group were analyzed. Results: A total of 11513 pulmonary nodules were detected in this screening. A total of 841 suspected lung cancer nodules were detected, The detection rate of solid nodules in the post-epidemic group was significantly higher than that in the pre-epidemic group . The detection rate of fibrosis changes in the post-epidemic group was significantly higher than that in the pre-epidemic group . The detection rate of pulmonary nodules after prevalence was significantly higher in 51 to 60 years and older than 61 years than in the pre-epidemic group, and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion: The detection rate of pulmonary nodules increased after the prevalence of COVID-19, mainly dominated by the increase of solid pulmonary nodules.The increased detection rate of pulmonary nodules is concentrated in the medical subjects aged over 51 years, and the COVID-19 epidemic does not increase the detection rate of suspected lung cancer nodules.