Effectiveness of rehabilitation in post-COVID compared with post-cardiosurgery patients. A single Center experience

Villani, GQ; Rosi, A; Corbellini, D; Schettino, V; Bosoni, A; Covini, I; Ambiveri, G

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Type of funding sources: None. The COVID 19 disease is frequently associated with significant disability related to intensive care unit-acquired weakness, decontitioning, myopathies and neuropathies. However there are no data on the results of a specific rehabilitative treatment in this group of patients. The aim of our work was to evaluate the effectiveness f a personalized rehabilitative therapy in group of post-COVID patients (A, 47 patients, average age 65.3± 11.6 y, 27 M,) comparing the results with a group of post-cardiosurgical patients COVID 19 negative (B, 47 patients, average age 63.5± 10.3 y, 29 M) evaluating the degree of clinical complexity (Rehabilitation Complexity Scale, RCS-E V13) and the degree of autonomy recovery (Six-minute walking test SMWT, Barthel Index, BI) pre and post-treatment. In Group A patients the Rehabilitation program is associated with a significant improvement in autonomy recovery (BI admission 29.7 ± 20 vs discharge 72.7 ± 28.6 p <0.005, SMWT admission 146 ± 25 vs 318 ± 18 m, p <0.005) and in clinical complexity (RCS admission 10.9 ± 1.1 vs discharge 5.3, p< 0.05) CONCLUSIONS: Post-COVID patients show a greater loss of autonomy than post-cardiosurgery patients. Rehabilitative treatment has proven effective in ensuring adequate functional recovery with similar results to those obtained in the population of cardiological subjects COVID 19 negative.