Ewerton Graziane Gomes Dos Santos, Karina Vieira da Costa, Iara Tainá Cordeiro de Souza, João Victor Dos Santos Felix, Celso Brendo Furtado Brandão, Vanessa Michelle de Souza Fernandes, Andressa Bomfim Lugon Favero, Maria Lucrécia de Aquino Gouveia, Dyego Tavares de Lima, José Heriston de Morais Lima, Rafaela Pedrosa, Valéria Mayaly Alves de Oliveira, Amilton da Cruz Santos, Tatiana Onofre Gama, Geraldo Eduardo Guedes de Brito, Eduardo Eriko Tenório de França
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Reduced functional capacity, dyspnea, fatigue, and changes in body composition are common in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS), and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation may improve these parameters. Thus, the present study verified the effects of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (respiratory, aerobic, and resistance muscle training) on submaximal exercise tolerance, dyspnea, fatigue, and body composition. METHODS This controlled and randomized clinical trial applied a six-week outpatient intervention protocol in individuals over 18 years old (n = 33) with a diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. These individuals were allocated to cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (n = 17) or control groups (i.e., educational lectures; n = 16). The cardiopulmonary rehabilitation group performed respiratory, aerobic, and resistance muscle training. Submaximal exercise tolerance, dyspnea, fatigue, and body composition were assessed before and after the protocol. RESULTS After 6 weeks, the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation group increased the tolerance to submaximal exercise, with a difference of 100.46 m (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.40-193 m) in the distance walked on the six-minute walk test, reduced dyspnea (-1.45, 95% CI: -1.98--0.92) in the modified Medical Research Council, and increased 0.63 kg (95% CI: 0.09-1.18 kg) of muscle mass in the upper limbs compared with the control group. CONCLUSION The six-week cardiopulmonary rehabilitation protocol improved functional capacity, reduced dyspnea, and increased muscle mass in the upper limbs in individuals with PCS. Thus, these results supported the protocol use in this population and encourage further studies to assess its effectiveness in a large sample.
{"title":"Effects of a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation protocol on functional capacity, dyspnea, fatigue, and body composition in individuals with post-COVID-19 syndrome: A randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Ewerton Graziane Gomes Dos Santos, Karina Vieira da Costa, Iara Tainá Cordeiro de Souza, João Victor Dos Santos Felix, Celso Brendo Furtado Brandão, Vanessa Michelle de Souza Fernandes, Andressa Bomfim Lugon Favero, Maria Lucrécia de Aquino Gouveia, Dyego Tavares de Lima, José Heriston de Morais Lima, Rafaela Pedrosa, Valéria Mayaly Alves de Oliveira, Amilton da Cruz Santos, Tatiana Onofre Gama, Geraldo Eduardo Guedes de Brito, Eduardo Eriko Tenório de França","doi":"10.1002/pri.2086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pri.2086","url":null,"abstract":"BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE\u0000Reduced functional capacity, dyspnea, fatigue, and changes in body composition are common in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS), and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation may improve these parameters. Thus, the present study verified the effects of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (respiratory, aerobic, and resistance muscle training) on submaximal exercise tolerance, dyspnea, fatigue, and body composition.\u0000\u0000\u0000METHODS\u0000This controlled and randomized clinical trial applied a six-week outpatient intervention protocol in individuals over 18 years old (n = 33) with a diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. These individuals were allocated to cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (n = 17) or control groups (i.e., educational lectures; n = 16). The cardiopulmonary rehabilitation group performed respiratory, aerobic, and resistance muscle training. Submaximal exercise tolerance, dyspnea, fatigue, and body composition were assessed before and after the protocol.\u0000\u0000\u0000RESULTS\u0000After 6 weeks, the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation group increased the tolerance to submaximal exercise, with a difference of 100.46 m (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.40-193 m) in the distance walked on the six-minute walk test, reduced dyspnea (-1.45, 95% CI: -1.98--0.92) in the modified Medical Research Council, and increased 0.63 kg (95% CI: 0.09-1.18 kg) of muscle mass in the upper limbs compared with the control group.\u0000\u0000\u0000CONCLUSION\u0000The six-week cardiopulmonary rehabilitation protocol improved functional capacity, reduced dyspnea, and increased muscle mass in the upper limbs in individuals with PCS. Thus, these results supported the protocol use in this population and encourage further studies to assess its effectiveness in a large sample.","PeriodicalId":519522,"journal":{"name":"Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy","volume":"50 7","pages":"e2086"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140797697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}