Background: COVID-19 have affected lots of people and many COVID-19 pneumonia survivors suffered from physical and mental sequelae. Pulmonary rehabilitation is a promising method to improve patients' psychological and physical conditions

Method: We enrolled patients recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia to our home Pulmonary rehabilitation program. All participants were instructed by a trained physical therapist and continued a home training, at least 3 times a week, for 3 months weekly tele-monitoring was done via video call. Outcomes were measured at baseline and at 3 months. Quality of life(QoL) and disability were assessed by EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, Barthel index and modified Borg scale(MBS). Physiologic outcomes were assessed by spirometry, 6-minute walk distance(6MWD). All outcomes were compared between our cohort and a non-rehabilitation historical cohort adjusted by one-to-one propensity score matching

Results: 15 patients were enrolled, and all participants completed the rehabilitation program. Median onset of initiating the program was 35 days from a diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia. At 3 months, all QoL, disability and physiologic outcomes were significantly improved from baseline. However, there was no statistically significant difference of those outcomes at 3 months when compared with historical control. Only visual analog scale of EQ-5D-5L was better in rehabilitation than in control group (96.6±6.95 vs. 87±9.02, p-value<0.05)

Conclusion: Physical and mental sequelae of post COVID-19 pneumonia patients recovered quite well at 3 months. Pulmonary rehabilitation seemed to improve dyspnea sensation in these patients which might helpfully prevent long COVID-19 related chronic tiredness