1,070
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Effectiveness of aerobic exercise training program on cardio-respiratory fitness and quality of life in patients recovered from COVID-19

ORCID Icon, , , ORCID Icon, &
Pages 358-363 | Received 15 Oct 2020, Accepted 19 Mar 2021, Published online: 10 Apr 2021
 

Abstract

Background

This study aimed to determine the effect of moderate to high-intensity aerobic and breathing exercise on cardiorespiratory fitness and health-related Quality of Life (QoL) in post-discharge COVID-19 patients. The study included two groups of participants.

Methods

A prospective interventional study was conducted at the Bin-Inam Rehabilitation centre at the outpatient department, with 20 recruited patients having below standard 6-min walk test and QoL score at baseline. All the participants underwent five weeks (3 sessions/week) of aerobic training (20–60 min/session) and breathing exercise training (10 min/session). SF-36 health-related QoL modified Borg dyspnoea scale, and 6-min walk test measurements were collected at baseline and final intervention. Paired sample t-test was applied to determine the improvement after 5 weeks of intervention. Sub-group analysis according to inpatient ventilatory support used in active course of disease was also performed. A two-factor repeated measure ANOVA was applied to determine the time difference between sub-groups. All the data were analysed by using SPSS 24.0.

Results

Cardiorespiratory fitness, dyspnoea and quality of life has been significantly improved after 5-weeks of training. Sub-group analysis revealed that both groups significantly improved over time in measures of endurance, dyspnoea and quality of life (Time effect p < 0.05). An increase in exercise tolerance was observed in sub-group 1 (who did not used inpatient ventilatory support) manifested by a longer 6-min walk distance 667.8 (35.32) m compared to sub-group 2 (who used inpatient ventilatory support) 602.9 (46.1) m. There were trends towards greater improvement in General health and Body pain domains of health-related quality of life and dyspnoea in sub-Group 1 compared to sub-Group 2.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence that rehabilitation training in COVID-19 recovered patients may benefit the recovery after COVID-19.

Clinical trial registration number

NCT04445376

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that no conflicts of interest exist.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 65.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 175.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.