Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in COVID-19 patients at 3 months follow-up
Long-term effects of COVID-19 are of utmost relevance. This study aims to determine the functional capacity of COVID-19 survivors by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), the characteristics associated with cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) performance and the safety and tolerability of CPET.
COSMED system (Quark CPET, COSMED, Rome, Italy) with an electronically braked cycle ergometer was used.
The study demonstrates that at three months after discharge, about 1/3rd of COVID-19 survivors show functional limitations, mainly explained by muscular impairment, calling for future research to identify patients at higher risk of long-term effects that may benefit from careful surveillance and targeted rehabilitation.
The vast majority of them complains of limiting symptoms and have reduced exercise capacity.
The CPET appears the only technique that gives unequivocal results regarding the actual existence of a functional capacity impairment and also insights about the mechanisms of this reduction.
From this point of view, we believe that CPET should be proposed to post COVID-19 patients.
Article details:
- Title: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in COVID-19 patients at 3 months follow-up
- Authors: Piero Clavario, Vincenzo De Marzo, Roberta Lotti, Cristina Barbara, Annalisa Porcile, Carmelo Russo, Federica Beccaria, Marco Bonavia, Luigi Carlo Bottaro, Marta Caltabellotta, Flavia Chioni, Monica Santangelo, Arto J. Hautala, Raffaele Griffo, Gianfranco Parati, Ugo Corrà, Italo Porto
- Published in: International Journal of Cardiology - Available online 24 July 2021
- Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2021.07.033
