Discussion
cough, desaturation, fatigue, shortness of breath
CRITICAL ILLNESS, COVID-19 INFECTION
In COVID-19 survivors, physical impairment can persist for weeks after COVID-19, such as shortness of breath, desaturation, cough, weakness, and fatigue. Even in the early stages of the pandemic, expert opinions suggested the need for rehabilitation, based on the fact that exercise is feasible and useful in survivors of critical illness (Our study contributes to the growing literature on the benefits of rehabilitation for patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation after COVID-19 infection. Previous European studies have shown improvements after inpatient rehabilitation programs in physical fitness, ADL ability, and pulmonary measurements. A study by Piquet et al. evaluated the effectiveness of inpatient rehabilitation for 100 post-acute care COVID-19 patients (Although this study provides evidence for the effectiveness of hospital-based rehabilitation programs, we recognize that some limitations should be considered. First, the lack of inclusion of data from the full spirometry (including FEF 25–75%) study in the analysis may bias the results. Second, future studies could be enriched with a wider range of diagnostic tools, including more objective ways to measure stress levels (e.g., cortisol levels). Third, a follow-up assessment could provide additional valuable information on efficacy comparisons with traditional therapies. Finally, the subgroup analysis omitted inclusion of the time of symptom onset, which may impact the validity of the results. It is acknowledged that an increase in symptom duration is positively correlated with the magnitude of the immune response and, as such, may influence the recovery of patients. However, we would like to emphasize that the results obtained are preliminary reports, and the project is still in the implementation phase.