COVID-19 related fatigue: which role for rehabilitation in post-COVID-19 patients? A case series.

Ferraro, Francesco; Calafiore, Dario; Dambruoso, Francesca; Guidarini, Sergio; de Sire, Alessandro

AIM of this paper was to characterize the impact of rehabilitation in reducing fatigue in a series of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) free patients, attested by two negative Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) swab tests. We described 7 post-COVID-19 patients, mean aged 65.7±11.9 years, referred to a Northern-Italy Rehabilitation Unit due to generalized muscle weakness. They came from specialized COVID-19 Unit after two negative SARS-CoV-2 swab tests. The 57.1% suffered from severe dyspnoea affecting activities of daily living. We noticed that almost all patients (85.7%) showed a perception of exertion, but only Case 2, that needed intensive care unit in the acute phase, presented a severe fatigue (Borg Category Ratio 10 scale=7). After the rehabilitation treatment the 71.4% showed no fatigue and the other 2 cases reported only a very light perception of exertion. This case series suggested that, starting from an adequate assessment of functional complications, a patient-tailored rehabilitation intervention should be planned for reducing fatigue and improving functioning in COVID-19 free patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.