ABSTRACT
Introduction
At the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there was scarce data about clinical/functional conditions during hospitalization or after hospital discharge. Little was known about COVID-19 repercussions and how to do early mobilization in intensive care unit (ICU).
Objective
Identify the time to the initiation of out-of-bed mobilization and the levels of mobility (sitting over the edge of the bed, sitting in a chair, standing, and ambulating) reached by critically ill patients with COVID-19 during hospitalization and the factors that could impact early mobilization.
Methods
This was a retrospective observational study of patients with COVID-19 in the ICU.
Results
There were 157 surviving COVID-19 patients included in the study (median age: 61 years; median ICU length of stay: 12 days). The median time to initiate out-of-bed mobilization in the ICU was 6 days; between patients who received mechanical ventilation (MV) compared with those who did not, this time was 8 vs. 2.5 days (p < .001). Most patients who used MV were mobilized after extubation (79.6%). During ICU stays, 88.0% of all patients were mobilized out of bed, and 41.0% were able to ambulate either with assistance or independently. The time to initiate out-of-bed mobilization is associated with sedation time and MV time.
Conclusion
Despite the pandemic scenario, patients were quickly mobilized out of bed, and most of the patients achieved higher mobility levels in the ICU and at hospital discharge. Sedation time and MV time were associated with delays in initiating mobilization.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Hospital das Clinicas COVID-19 crisis committee for their support for this project. We would also like to thank Luciana Oliveira and Edson Prado Bomfim for the statistical consultancy.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).