Acute inpatient rehabilitation for COVID-19 survivors: A retrospective case series.

Background: Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) who required mechanical ventilation and had prolonged hospital stay present with medical instability and functional impairments after the acute hospitalization.

Objective: To present the rehabilitation outcome of three patients with COVID-19 admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation unit using a case series method.

Methods: Subjects included three consecutive male patients admitted to the rehabilitation unit with a diagnosis of deconditioning and critical illness myopathy. On admission, patients were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team using outcome measures such as 6-min walk test (6 MWT), 10-m walk test (10 MWT), berg balance scale (BBS), and dynamometry. Each patient received daily therapy with a minimum of 900 min per week during their rehabilitation stay. Treatment strategies included fatigue management, training of mobility and activities for daily living tasks, muscle strengthening, and cognitive retraining.

Results: All patients showed significant improvements across all the outcome measures, specifically, the 6MWT (minimal clinically identifiable difference (MCID) range: 14-30.5 m) and the 10MWT (MCID range: 0.10-0.20 m/s) which exceeded the MCID for all three patients. The BBS also demonstrated significant improvement, surpassing the minimum detectable change of 5-7 points. Of the three patients, two were able to be discharged at an independent level, while one required supervision for safety.

Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19, who experienced prolonged hospital stay present with severe impairments in muscle strength, functional mobility, and participation in daily living tasks. Inpatient rehabilitation may have the potential to reduce impairments and accelerate the recovery process while managing ongoing medical issues.