• Matthias Hermann, Anna-Maria Pekacka-Egli, Fabienne Witassek, Reiner Baumgaertner, Sabine Schoendorf, and Marc Spielmanns.
• From the Department of Cardiology, University Heart Center Zurich, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland (MH); Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Medicine Center, Zürcher RehaZentren Klinik Wald, Wald, Switzerland (A-MP-E, SS, MS); AMIS Plus Data Center, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (FW); Cardiology, Zürcher RehaZentren Klinik Wald, Wald, Switzerland (RB); and Department for Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Health, University Witten-Herdecke, Germany (MS).
• Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2020 Oct 1; 99 (10): 865-869.

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic affects a large number of patients with a rapid progression of respiratory failure often requiring hospitalization or intensive care unit treatment in some patients. Survivors of severe COVID-19 experience persistent weakness and cardiorespiratory failure. Feasibility and potential benefit of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation after COVID-19 remains unclear. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed a cohort of COVID-19 patients in a single-center inpatient rehabilitation clinic and describe performance and outcome during cardiopulmonary rehabilitation.Patients were referred from acute care hospitals for rehabilitation after severe COVID-19. The cohort (N = 28) was divided in ventilated or not ventilated patients for further analysis. Fifty percent were female, the mean age was 66 yrs, and patients stayed in the acute hospital for 19.3 ± 10.7 days before referral for cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. Seventeen patients (61%) needed previous intensive care unit treatment in the acute care hospital. Risk factors, assessments, and questionnaires on admission were comparable in both groups. Significant enhancements were observed in 6-min walking test and feeling thermometer, which were independent of previous ventilation status.In conclusion, comprehensive cardiopulmonary rehabilitation after COVID-19 is safe, feasible, and effective. Improvements in physical performance and subjective health status were independent of previous ventilation.

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