Effects of cardiopulmonary and metabolic rehabilitation in post-COVID-19 patients: Clinical trial

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation on the functional capacity of post-COVID-19 individuals. Methods: Clinical trial, 7 patients participated in the study who tested positive for COVID-19. Participants underwent a 30-session rehabilitation program. They were evaluated using: Post COVID-19 Functional Scale (PCFS), inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength, 6-minute walk test (6MWT), 30-second sit-to-stand test (SE30’), hand grip (HG), VO2max, maximum HR, resting and reserve. Functional variables were analyzed using ANOVA for repeated measures and the Bonferroni multiple comparison test, considering a significance level of 5%. Results: The participants showed improvement in their functional status, with a decrease in the PCFS score (p=0.006), improvement in MIP (p=0.013), distance covered in the 6MWT (p=0.022), HGSR (p=0.005) and HGSL (p=0.009). In SE30’, they showed improvement in the intermediate (p=0.002) and final (p=0.046) assessments. Conclusions: The individuals demonstrated a decrease in functional limitations, improvement in functional capacity, inspiratory and lower limb muscle strength, handgrip strength after the 7th week of rehabilitation, with maintenance of the functional status being promoted until the end of the program. Implying the reestablishment of the global functional state of the pa-tients.