# Spontaneous Pneumothorax History = Higher Covid Comorbidity Risk?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [October 6, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358 "2020-10-06T18:21:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MildlyAnnoyed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mildlyannoyed/32/4981_2.png) [@MildlyAnnoyed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MildlyAnnoyed)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358/1 "2020-10-06T18:21:23Z")

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About 20 years ago I suffered a pair of [spontaneous pneumothorax](https://www.saintjohnscancer.org/thoracic/conditions/spontaneous-pneumothorax/#:~:text=A%20spontaneous%20pneumothorax%20is%20the,the%20space%20around%20the%20lungs.) episodes in fairly quick succession (a few weeks apart. The 1st time they re-inflated and called it good. the 2nd time was followed up with an in-patient arthroscopic procedure to re-stick the lung, in my best layman’s understanding. It was awhile back, but I vividly remember the very intense fear of hitting on 1 cylinder.

The answer seems obvious to me, but to what degree and… maybe not? IANAD.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358/2 "2020-10-06T19:55:14Z")

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Moving to the Quarantine Zone.

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**Author:** ![MildlyAnnoyed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mildlyannoyed/32/4981_2.png) [@MildlyAnnoyed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MildlyAnnoyed)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358/3 "2020-10-06T22:48:24Z")

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Yeah, I saw that right after posting, newbie, sorry! ;=)

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358/4 "2020-10-06T22:56:11Z")

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I doubt anyone knows for sure. Covid is too new, and your problem too infrequent and transient to be properly studied. It is unlikely to improve things, of course. It is not certain that it makes things worse.

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**Author:** ![MildlyAnnoyed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mildlyannoyed/32/4981_2.png) [@MildlyAnnoyed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MildlyAnnoyed)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spontaneous-pneumothorax-history-higher-covid-comorbidity-risk/922358/5 "2020-10-06T23:43:37Z")

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Sorta what I was thinking/hoping maybe not even a factor. Tks for the reply!