Introduction:Respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 may require invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Dysautonomia may play an important role in the pathophysiology of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. Peripheral body temperature is an indicator of the state of the autonomic nervous system.
Objective:To compare the autonomic response, measured by peripheral temperature, of surviving patients of COVID-19 with and without IMV.Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out. 282 COVID-19 survivors participated: 174 with IMV during hospitalization (G1,66.7% men,50.99±14.45 years) and 108 without IMV (G2,63.90% men, 48.53±15,47 years). A psychophysiological relaxation profile was performed, with bilateral thermal recording, of 4 phases of 2.5 minutes each: eyes open, eyes closed, natural relaxation, and induced relaxation. The thermal performance was calculated through the indicators:symmetry, dominance, gain and synchrony, allowing to categorize the performance in:lousy(0-6), bad(7-12), regular(13-18), good (19-24), very good(25-30) and excellent(31-36). Statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS V25.Results:Statistically significant differences were found between both groups in autonomic alterations (p<0.05). The classification of the temperature profile was (G1VsG2): 1.1%vs0.0% lousy, 2.9%vs1.9% bad, 16.1%vs7.4% fair, 44.3%vs36.1% good, 31.6%vs47.2% very good and 4.0%vs7.4% excellent. Conclusions: Patients with a history of IMV showed worse autonomic performance. Beyond the post-COVID affectation, the maladaptive autonomic response has been related to other public health problems, such as greater vulnerability to psychological stress.