Abstract
BackgroundWith the growing stress on hospitals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for home-based solutions has become a necessity to support these overwhelmed hospitals.ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to compare two nonpharmacological respiratory treatment methods for home-isolated COVID-19 patients using a newly developed telemanagement health care system.MethodsIn this single-blinded randomized clinical trial, 60 patients with stage 1 pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection were treated. Group A (n=30) received oxygen therapy with bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) ventilation, and Group B (n=30) received osteopathic manipulative respiratory and physical therapy techniques. Arterial blood gases of PaO2 and PaCO2, pH, vital signs (ie, temperature, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood pressure), and chest computed tomography scans were used for follow-up and for assessment of the course and duration of recovery.ResultsAnalysis of the results showed a significant difference between the two groups (P<.05), with Group A showing shorter recovery periods than Group B (mean 14.9, SD 1.7 days, and mean 23.9, SD 2.3 days, respectively). Significant differences were also observed between baseline and final readings in all of the outcome measures in both groups (P<.05). Regarding posttreatment satisfaction with our proposed telemanagement health care system, positive responses were given by most of the patients in both groups.ConclusionsIt was found that home-based oxygen therapy with BiPAP can be a more effective prophylactic treatment approach than osteopathic manipulative respiratory and physical therapy techniques, as it can impede exacerbation of early-stage COVID-19 pneumonia. Telemanagement health care systems are promising methods to help in the pandemic-related shortage of hospital beds, as they showed reasonable effectiveness and reliability in the monitoring and management of patients with early-stage COVID-19 pneumonia.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04368923; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04368923
Highlights
COVID-19 has become a global pandemic that has had a gross dramatic impact on hospitals and health care systems worldwide [1,2,3]
It was found that home-based oxygen therapy with bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) can be a more effective prophylactic treatment approach than osteopathic manipulative respiratory and physical therapy techniques, as it can impede exacerbation of early-stage COVID-19 pneumonia
Telemanagement health care systems are promising methods to help in the pandemic-related shortage of hospital beds, as they showed reasonable effectiveness and reliability in the monitoring and management of patients with early-stage COVID-19 pneumonia
Summary
COVID-19 has become a global pandemic that has had a gross dramatic impact on hospitals and health care systems worldwide [1,2,3]. A worldwide shortage of medical devices, protective equipment, and pharmacological treatment with growing stress on hospital resources have led to an obvious drop in the performance of the majority of frontline health care workers [7,8,9]. Introducing telemanagement approaches has become a necessity for coping with the exponential increase in the number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 [10,11,12]. Home care isolation can be considered for COVID-19 patients with mild illness when inpatient isolation is unavailable. With the growing stress on hospitals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for home-based solutions has become a necessity to support these overwhelmed hospitals
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