The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte (PLR) ratio are two extensively used inflammatory markers that have been proved very useful in evaluating inflammation in several diseases. The present article aimed to investigate if they have any value in distinguishing among various respiratory disorders. One hundred and forty-five patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), 219 patients with different chronic respiratory diseases (interstitial lung disease, obstructive sleep apnea(OSA)-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome, bronchiectasis) and 161 healthy individuals as a control group were included in the study. While neither NLR nor PLR had any power in differentiating between various diseases, PLR was found to be significant but poor as a diagnostic test when the control group was compared with the OSA-COPD group. NLR was found to be significant but poor as a diagnostic test when we compared the control group with all three groups (separately): the OSA-COPD group; interstitial lung disease group, and bronchiectasis group. NLR and PLR had poor power to discriminate between various respiratory diseases and cannot be used in making the differential diagnosis.

Background and Objectives: Long COVID as a condition typically manifests itself three months after the initial onset of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with symptoms persisting for a minimum of two months. The aim of the present research was to identify potential predictors of post-COVID-19 syndrome (long COVID-19) and to evaluate factors associated with the presence of post-COVID-19 interstitial lung disease and functional decline. Materials and Methods: 210 patients hospitalized for confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections mild, moderate, severe, and critical form have been evaluated at 3, 6 and twelve months. Results: Among them only one has been with a suspicion of interstitial lung disease after one year, the rest had no change in the lung. No risk factor from the baseline/3-month or 6-month evaluations significantly influenced patients’ status at 12 months. The longer the duration of hospitalization, the lower the FVC and DLCO were at 3 months, but the longer the duration of hospitalization, the higher the number of symptoms at 3 months and 6 months. In a multivariate linear regression analysis, the number of hospitalization days remained statistically significant only for the number of symptoms at 3 months and 6 months. Conclusions: Long COVID seems to be related to the severity of the initial disease, and among the most persistent. Post-COVID-19 interstitial lung disease does not seem to be a frequent entity, as in our study only 0.5% out of 210 patients had it.