A temporal examination of inspiratory muscle strength and endurance in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Filip Dosbaba, Martin Hartman, Ladislav Batalik and 6 others
PMID 36934476WHAT IT FOUND
Breathing muscle endurance and work improved before discharge, but strength did not, and most scores stayed below predicted.
Ninety percent still had symptoms one month later, fatigue most common.
Key findings
01At ICU discharge, inspiratory muscle performance was below predicted, and only sustained maximal inspiratory pressure and fatigue index improved significantly by hospital discharge.
02One month after hospital discharge, 90% of patients still had at least one symptom, and fatigue was the most common at 46.6%.
03Men had higher inspiratory muscle strength and work measures than women, and no inspiratory muscle measure improved significantly in women from ICU discharge to hospital discharge.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 30 patients were studied, with 19 men and 11 women, so findings in women are cautious. Inspiratory muscle performance was not measured before ICU admission, so pre-existing impairment cannot be separated. All patients received general physical therapy twice daily without inspiratory muscle training, and the study followed one group over time rather than comparing treatments, so changes cannot be attributed to a specific therapy. The paper analyzed several inspiratory measures and symptom outcomes separately and did not identify a single primary inspiratory endpoint. Lung CT data were available for only 19 subjects.
Declared interests
Funded by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (University Hospital Brno, 65,269,705), grant NU21J-09–00,004. The authors declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that inspiratory muscle training improved these patients. The study was observational, all patients received general physical therapy twice daily without inspiratory muscle training, and maximal inspiratory pressure did not significantly improve overall.