• Guillaume Y Millet, Djahid Kennouche, Clément Foschia, Callum G Brownstein, Julien Gondin, Thomas Lapole, Diana Rimaud, Nicolas Royer, Guillaume Thiery, Vincent Gauthier, Lydia Oujamaa, Marine Sorg, Samuel Vergès, Stéphane Doutreleau, Mathieu Marillier, Mélanie Prudent, Laurent Bitker, Léonard Féasson, Laurent Gergelé, Emeric Stauffer, Céline Guichon, and Jérôme Morel.
• Université de Lyon, UJM, Inter-university laboratory of Human Movement Biology, EA 7424, F-42023 Saint-Etienne, France.
• Crit. Care Med. 2022 Nov 1; 50 (11): 155515651555-1565.

ObjectivesThe aim of the current study was to investigate the level of cardiorespiratory fitness and neuromuscular function of ICU survivors after COVID-19 and to examine whether these outcomes are related to ICU stay/mechanical ventilation duration.DesignProspective nonrandomized study.SettingPatients hospitalized in ICU for COVID-19 infection.PatientsSixty patients hospitalized in ICU (mean duration: 31.9 ± 18.2 d) were recruited 4-8 weeks post discharge from ICU.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsPatients visited the laboratory on two separate occasions. The first visit was dedicated to quality of life questionnaire, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, whereas measurements of the knee extensors neuromuscular function were performed in the second visit. Maximal oxygen uptake (V o2 max) was 18.3 ± 4.5 mL·min -1 ·kg -1 , representing 49% ± 12% of predicted value, and was significantly correlated with ICU stay/mechanical ventilation (MV) duration ( R = -0.337 to -0.446; p < 0.01 to 0.001), as were maximal voluntary contraction and electrically evoked peak twitch. V o2 max (either predicted or in mL· min -1 ·kg -1 ) was also significantly correlated with key indices of pulmonary function such as predicted forced vital capacity or predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second ( R = 0.430-0.465; p ≤ 0.001) and neuromuscular function. Both cardiorespiratory fitness and neuromuscular function were correlated with self-reported physical functioning and general health status.ConclusionsV o2 max was on average only slightly above the 18 mL·min -1 ·kg -1 , that is, the cut-off value known to induce difficulty in performing daily tasks. Overall, although low physical capacities at admission in ICU COVID-19 patients cannot be ruled out to explain the association between V o2 max or neuromuscular function and ICU stay/MV duration, altered cardiorespiratory fitness and neuromuscular function observed in the present study may not be specific to COVID-19 disease but seem applicable to all ICU/MV patients of similar duration.Copyright © 2022 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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