ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Multimodal Prediction of Persistent Pulmonary Nodules After COVID-19: Radiomics Feature Integration with Clinical and Epidemiologic Variables
Lijuan Ma
Hongyuan Xiao
Yonggang Huang
Ru Nan
Yulong Ma
Xinru Liang
First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou, China
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Abstract
ABSTRACT Background: Persistent pulmonary nodules are increasingly identified in patients recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, factors associated with long-term persistence remain insufficiently understood.. Objective: To determine whether a predictive model integrating clinical and CT imaging features can estimate the risk of pulmonary nodule persistence at 6 months after COVID-19. Methods: In this single-center retrospective cohort study, 419 patients with newly detected pulmonary nodules after confirmed COVID-19 infection who had ≥6 months of follow-up were included (January 2020–December 2024). Clinical and computed tomography (CT) features were collected. Predictors were selected using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and incorporated into a multivariable logistic regression model. Model performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves and calibration analysis. Internal validation was performed using 1,000 bootstrap resamples to estimate optimism-corrected performance. Decision curve analysis was also conducted. Results: Among 419 patients, 210 (50.1%) had persistent nodules at 6 months. In age-and sex-adjusted analyses, ≥4 hospitalizations, prior tuberculosis, larger maximum nodule diameter (OR per mm increase: 1.121, 95% CI: 1.074–1.170), vascular convergence sign positivity, and ICU admission were associated with persistence. LASSO selected four key predictors, and multivariable analysis confirmed ≥4 hospitalizations, prior tuberculosis, larger nodule diameter, and vascular convergence sign as independent risk factors. The model achieved an AUC of 0.728, with bootstrap-corrected AUC of 0.717. Decision curve analysis demonstrated clinical net benefit within threshold probabilities of 50%–83%. Conclusion: The proposed clinical–imaging model effectively identifies patients at higher risk of persistent pulmonary nodules after COVID-19 and may assist in optimizing individualized follow-up strategies.
Summary
Keywords
COVID-19, LASSO regression, nomogram, Persistent nodules, predictive model, pulmonary nodules
Received
30 December 2025
Accepted
17 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Ma, Xiao, Huang, Nan, Ma and Liang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lijuan Ma
Disclaimer
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