We compared effectiveness of a hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PRP) provided through virtual reality (VR) to traditional rehabilitation in patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). We studied 32 patients (20 female), of age 57.8 (4.92) years 3 to 6 months after the initial infection. All participated in a 3-week, high-intensity, 5 sessions/week PRP. The findings (Table) are that both groups improved exercise performance and reduced dyspnea levels without a significant change in lung function. Measures of stress, anxiety and depression were also considerably reduced. However, VR-based rehabilitation was not found more effective than traditional rehabilitation. The study advances the understanding of rehab efficacy for PASC patients. Data is presented as mean (SD) or median [IRQ].
| VR group (n=18) | Control group (n=14) | |||||
| Pre- | Post- | p | Pre- | Post- | p | |
| 6-minute walk test | ||||||
| Fatigue | 3.0 [1.0] | 2.0 [1.0] | 0.055 | 3.0 [1.0] | 2.0 [1.0] | 0.010 |
| Dyspnea | 2.0 [3.0] | 0.0 [2.0] | 0.033 | 2.0 [2.75] | 0.5 [2.0] | 0.004 |
| Distance (m) | 502 (48.4) | 558 (76) | <.001 | 512 (54.3) | 552 (49.1) | <.001 |
| Lung function | ||||||
| FEV1 (l) | 2.8 (0.66) | 2.77 (0.68) | 0.708 | 2.72 (0.60) | 2.76 (0.61) | 0.879 |
| FVC (l) | 3.46 (0.78) | 3.56 (0.8) | 0.087 | 3.49 (0.86) | 3.5 (0.85) | 0.168 |
| FEV1%VC | 84.3 [6.89] | 81.4 [7.77] | 0.028 | 82.4 [5.32] | 83.2 [10.1] | 0.130 |
| TLC (l) | 5.18 (1.2) | 5.39 (1.1) | 0.288 | 4.9 (1.2) | 5.27 (1.0) | 0.070 |
| Stress level | ||||||
| PSS-10 | 23.1 (4.2) | 20.7 (3.5) | 0.015 | 23.8 (3.1) | 22.2 (3.8) | 0.004 |
| Anxiety and depression | ||||||
| HADS-A | 8.6 (4.6) | 5.6 (3.3) | <0.001 | 9.57 (6.0) | 8 (4.8) | 0.003 |
| HADS-D | 6.9 (3.9) | 4.7 (3.5) | 0.008 | 7.64 (4.5) | 6.6 (4.8) | 0.017 |
| HADS Total | 15.5 (7.5) | 10.3 (6.5) | <0.001 | 17.2 (9.8) | 14.6 (8.9) | <0.05 |