Eight Weeks of Supervised Pulmonary Rehabilitation Are Effective in Improving Resting Heart Rate and Heart Rate Recovery in Severe COVID-19 Patient Survivors of Mechanical Ventilation
<i>Background and Objectives</i>: Patients who survive severe COVID-19 require significant pulmonary rehabilitation. Heart rate (HR) has been used as a safety variable in the evaluation of the results of interventions in patients undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation. The aim of this resea...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Medicina |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/58/4/514 |
| Summary: | <i>Background and Objectives</i>: Patients who survive severe COVID-19 require significant pulmonary rehabilitation. Heart rate (HR) has been used as a safety variable in the evaluation of the results of interventions in patients undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation. The aim of this research was to analyse HR during a pulmonary rehabilitation program in post-severe COVID-19 patients who survived mechanical ventilation (MV). The study includes the initial and final evaluations and aerobic training sessions. <i>Materials and Methods:</i> Twenty patients (58 ± 13 years, 11 men) were trained for 8 weeks. A 6-minute walk test (6 MWT) was performed and, subsequently, a supervised and individualised training plan was created. Resting heart rate (RHR), heart rate recovery (HRR), heart rate at minute 6 (HR6 min) and the product of HR6 min and systolic blood pressure (HR6 min<sup>x</sup>SBP) were measured at 6 MWT. In addition, HR was measured at each training session. <i>Results:</i> After 8 weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation, patients decreased their RHR from 81.95 ± 9.36 to 73.60 ± 9.82 beats/min (<i>p</i> < 0.001) and significantly increased their HRR from 12.45 ± 10.22 to 20.55 ± 7.33 beats/min (<i>p</i> = 0.005). HR6 min presented a significant relationship with walking speed and walked distance after the pulmonary rehabilitation period (r = 0.555, <i>p</i> = 0.011 and r = 0.613, <i>p</i> = 0.011, respectively). HR6 min<sup>x</sup>SBP presented a significant relationship with walking speed and walked distance after training (r = 0.538, <i>p</i> = 0.014 and r = 0.568, <i>p</i> = 0.008, respectively). In the pulmonary rehabilitation sessions, a significant decrease in HR was observed at minutes 1, 6 and 15 (<i>p</i> < 0.05) between sessions 1 and 6 and at minute 1 between sessions 1 and 12. <i>Conclusions:</i> Eight weeks of individualised and supervised pulmonary rehabilitation were effective in improving RHR and HRR in COVID-19 patients surviving MV. HR is an easily accessible indicator that could help to monitor the evaluation and development of a pulmonary rehabilitation program in COVID-19 patients who survived MV. |
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| ISSN: | 1010-660X 1648-9144 |