Effect of hybrid rehabilitation on exercise tolerance in patients with long COVID-19 syndrome: an interim analysis

Background: Exercise tolerance is limited in patients suffering from long COVID-19 syndrome several months after the acute phase of the disease. The effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on exercise tolerance is inconclusive. Aim: To investigate the effect of a hybrid PR program, combining outpatient and home-based PR, on exercise capacity in long COVID-19 syndrome. Methods: 15 patients (age (mean±SD): 55±14 yrs.) with excessive fatigue due to long COVID-19 syndrome (FACIT score (25±11) were allocated to PR (n=10) or usual care (UC) (n=5) groups 85±29 days from hospital discharge. PR consisted of 8 outpatient PR sessions (twice weekly for 4 weeks), and 24 home-based PR sessions (3 times/week for 8 weeks). Patients in the UC were instructed to be physically active. Exercise tolerance was assessed during a cardiopulmonary exercise test to the limit of tolerance (Tlim). Results: Results are presented in table 1. Conclusions: A hybrid programme of PR improves exercise tolerance in patients with long COVID-19 syndrome. Table 1: Data are shown at Tlim. Asterisks denote within group differences at p<0.05