Impact of tele rehabilitation on clinical outcomes in patients recovering from COVID-19

Pulmonary rehabilitation has proven to be an effective therapeutic intervention for people with chronic respiratory disease. Considering the highly contagious nature of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it becomes imperative to develop a method which can effectively improve clinical disease outcomes of these patients without any physical contact.

To investigate the impact of Tele rehabilitation on clinical outcomes in patients recovering from COVID-19.

Twenty-four participants who had been recently recovered from COVID-19 were recruited for the present study from SGT hospital as per the eligibility criteria. They were randomly allocated into two groups, Tele rehabilitation (n=12) and Control (n=12) by lottery method. All the selected participants were assessed at baseline for their endurance, dyspnea and quality of life. Patients in the Tele rehabilitation group received 14 sessions of rehabilitation on alternate days online via google meet over a period of 28 days. Control group received usual care during the study period. Standard statistical tests were employed to test the study hypothesis.

Results suggested a significant improvement in majority of parameters such as physical function, physical role, general health, emotional role, overall physical and mental functioning on SF-36 Questionnaire (quality of life) in COVID-19 patients which points towards the positive impact of Tele rehabilitation on quality of life on COVID-19 survivors. The trend of descriptive in endurance and dyspnea also showed greater improvement in Tele rehabilitation group as compared to control.

Findings of the present study suggests that short-term Tele rehabilitation program leads to improvement in outcomes of dyspnea, endurance and quality of life and therefore, it may be incorporated into the rehabilitation of patients recovering from COVID-19.