Oxygen Therapy During Activities of Daily Living Rehabilitation and Outcome in Patients With Severe-to-critical COVID-19.
Shuen-Loong Tham, Koh Kuan Cheryl Tan, Na-Ling Lin and 1 others
PMID 38163029WHAT IT FOUND
Showering took the longest to wean off supplemental oxygen, averaging 47.7 days, compared to 38.4 days for dressing.
Mechanical ventilation was the strongest predictor of prolonged oxygen need. Most patients still had low leg strength scores at follow-up.
Key findings
01Showering required the longest average time to wean off supplemental oxygen (47.7 days) among basic activities, with dressing being the shortest (38.4 days).
02Need for mechanical ventilation during acute care was the factor most consistently associated with prolonged oxygen therapy across all activities in multivariable analysis.
03At 2-6 months post-discharge, only 1 of 20 patients tested achieved an age-appropriate score on the 30-second chair stand test, indicating persistent physical deconditioning.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (23 enrolled, 21 analysed) limits generalizability. Oxygen weaning assessments were not performed daily, particularly on weekends, potentially leading to overestimation of the time required to wean off oxygen. The study did not use the 6-minute walk test, which might have more accurately detected persistent exertional desaturation. No control group was included, so the effect of the specific rehabilitation program on oxygen weaning time cannot be isolated from natural recovery.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding sources were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the resolution of oxygen needs at discharge as full functional recovery. Most patients had below-norm leg strength and limited community mobility months later, so continued physical conditioning is necessary even after supplemental oxygen is no longer required.