ReviewRespiratory medicine
The effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation for Post-COVID symptoms: A rapid review of the literature.
Review in Respiratory medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rehabilitation Interventions for Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of aerobic training on cardiopulmonary fitness in patients with long COVID-19: a randomized controlled trial.Trials · 2024Trial
- Additive benefit of rehabilitation on physical status, symptoms and mental health after hospitalisation for severe COVID-19 pneumonia.BMJ open respiratory research · 2023Trial
- Effects of a concurrent training, respiratory muscle exercise, and self-management recommendations on recovery from post-COVID-19 conditions: the RECOVE trial.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Trial
- Commentary on "Effects of incentive spirometer added to standard rehabilitation in previously hospitalized adults with Post-COVID-19 condition: a randomized controlled trial".Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2026Article
- Depression, but Not Fatigue, Improves as Part of Multimodal Post-COVID Rehabilitation.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2026Article
- Assessment of physical status and analysis of lipidomic and metabolomic alterations in patients with Post-COVID-19 condition.PloS one · 2026Article
- Assessment and management of post-COVID-19 pulmonary complications: a rapid review.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
- Review
- Effect of a 4-Week Telerehabilitation Program for People With Post-COVID Syndrome on Physical Function and Symptoms: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.Physical therapy · 2024Article
- The Effects of a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme on Functional Capacity and Strength of Respiratory Muscles in Patients with Post-COVID Syndrome.Zdravstveno varstvo · 2024Article
- Pulmonary rehabilitation in follow-up and inpatient rehabilitation for Long COVID: twelve months of follow-up.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2024Observational
- Effectiveness of post-COVID-19 primary care attendance in improving survival in very old patients with multimorbidity: a territory-wide target trial emulation.Family medicine and community health · 2024Article
- Factors associated with phenotypes of dyspnea in post-COVID-19 condition: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of pulmonary rehabilitation on functional and psychological parameters in post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) patients.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Article
- Post-COVID-19 patients in geriatric rehabilitation substantially recover in daily functioning and quality of life.Age and ageing · 2024Article
- Research progress of post-acute sequelae after SARS-CoV-2 infection.Cell death & disease · 2024Review
- Personalized pulmonary rehabilitation program for patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: A proof-of-concept retrospective study.Physiological reports · 2024Article
- "I Had to Know About It, I Had to Find It, I Had to Know How to Access it": Experiences of Access to Rehabilitation Services Among People Living with Long COVID.Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada · 2024Article
- Impact of a tailored exercise regimen on physical capacity and plasma proteome profile in post-COVID-19 condition.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMulti-disciplinary rehabilitation is recommended for individuals with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 infection (i.e., symptoms 3-4 weeks after acute infection). There are emerging reports of use of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in the post-acute stages of COVID-19, however the appropriateness of PR for managing post-COVID symptoms remains unclear. To offer practical guidance with regards to post-COVID PR, a greater understanding of the clinical effectiveness literature is required.
methodsA rapid review of the published literature was completed. An electronic database search of the literature published between July 1, 2020 and June 1, 2021 was performed in MEDLINE, Pubmed, and EMBASE. Primary studies evaluating the clinical effectiveness of PR for individuals with post-COVID symptoms were included.
resultsNine studies evaluating the effectiveness of PR were identified; most were small, experimental or quasi-experimental studies, including 1 RCT, and were primarily of low quality. After attending PR, all studies reported improvements in exercise capacity, pulmonary function, and/or quality of life for individuals with post-COVID symptoms who had been hospitalized for their acute COVID-19 infection. Few studies evaluated changes in post-COVID symptom severity or frequency and, of these, improvements in dyspnea, fatigue, anxiety and depression were observed following PR. Further, no studies evaluated non-hospitalized patients or long-term outcomes beyond 3 months after initiating PR.
conclusionsWith limited high-quality evidence, any recommendations or practical guidance for PR programmes for those with post-COVID symptoms should consider factors such as feasibility, current PR capacity, and resource constraints.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.