Assessment of Functional Status and Rehabilitation Intervention in Patients with Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Abstract

Aim: To assess the functional status of patients and to investigate the effectiveness of rehabilitation intervention in coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Materials and Methods: There were 21 patients with clinically-laboratory confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19), who participated in the study. Among the examined patients there were 16 (76.2%) women and 5 (23.8%) men. The average age of the patients was 58}5.08 years. The rehabilitation cycle included an initial and final assessment of the patients’ functional status, after which a rehabilitation intervention was carried out, which consisted of breathing exercises and motor activity. Results: The initial assessment of the patients’ functional status in physical exertion during the 1st day showed that the heart rate (HR) was 127.09}0.55 bpm, the respiratory rate (RR) was 28.05}0.39/min, SpO2 was 85.95}0.38 %, systolic arterial pressure (APs) – 145.09}1.48 mmHg, diastolic arterial pressure (APd) – 84.33}0.86 mmHg. Up to the 5th day of the rehabilitation cycle, heart rate decreased at 25.9%, RR – at 16.8%, SpO2 increased at 6.8%, АPs decreased by 14.3%, АPd decreased at – 9.3% (p<0.001). The SpO2 saturation index after respiratory gymnastics increased significantly starting from the first up to the 5th day of rehabilitation from 92.29}0.44% to 97.62}0.29% (р<0.001). Subjective indices under the influence of rehabilitation intervention had reliable dynamics with a tendency to the decrease of manifestations of shortness of breath according to the Modified Borg scale (MBS) at 63.6% (р<0.001), leveling of general fatigue according to the Borg CR10 scale – at 63.4% (р<0.001), an increase in the patient’s mobility index – at 66.4% (р<0.001), an increase in tolerance to the physical exertion for 6-minute walking distance 6MWD – at 93.4% (р<0.001). Conclusions: Thus, rehabilitation assessment and intervention is an extremely important stage in the treatment of patients with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which provides an opportunity to improve the functional status of patients by physically influencing the pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease.