Trial reportBrain stimulation
Efficacy and safety of HD-tDCS and respiratory rehabilitation for critically ill patients with COVID-19 The HD-RECOVERY randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in Brain stimulation. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rehabilitation and COVID-19: systematic review by Cochrane Rehabilitation.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms of long COVID.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Cognitive impairment in chronic respiratory disease patients using long-term oxygen therapy: a narrative review.Medical gas research · 2026Review
- Low intensity transcranial electric stimulation: Safety, ethical, legal regulatory and application guidelines (2017-2025: An update) - endorsed by the European Society for Brain Stimulation (ESBS) and by the International Federation for Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN).Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Review
- Transcranial stimulation as a possible therapeutic proposal in long COVID.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Review
- Computational Models of High-Definition Electroconvulsive Therapy for Focal or Multitargeting Treatment.The journal of ECT · 2025Article
- Dose standardization for transcranial electrical stimulation: an accessible approach.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) Therapy in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Study Protocol for a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The role of adipose tissue in critical illness-induced skeletal muscle wasting-new considerations for treatment approaches.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2025Review
- Acute and long-term effects of COVID-19 on brain and mental health: A narrative review.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Review
- Article
- Direct current stimulation as a non-invasive therapeutic alternative for treating autonomic or non-autonomic neurological disorders affecting breathing.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2024Review
- [Expert consensus on the clinical treatment of burn patients complicated with Coronavirus infection (2023 version)].Zhonghua shao shang yu chuang mian xiu fu za zhi · 2023Article
- Transcranial direct current stimulation for post-COVID fatigue: a randomized, double-blind, controlled pilot study.Brain communications · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
25 authors at 9 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
background and purposeAcute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ADRS) due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with muscle fatigue, corticospinal pathways dysfunction, and mortality. High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) may be used to attenuate clinical impairment in these patients. The HD-RECOVERY randomized clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of HD-tDCS with respiratory rehabilitation in patients with moderate to severe ARDS due to COVID-19.
methodsFifty-six critically ill patients were randomized 1:1 to active (n = 28) or sham (n = 28) HD-tDCS (twice a day, 30-min, 3-mA) plus respiratory rehabilitation for up to 10 days or until intensive care unit discharge. The primary outcome was ventilator-free days during the first 28 days, defined as the number of days free from mechanical ventilation. Furthermore, secondary outcomes such as delirium, organ failure, hospital length of stay and adverse effects were investigated.
resultsActive HD-tDCS induced more ventilator-free days compared to sham HD-tDCS. Patients in the active group vs in the sham group experienced lower organ dysfunction, delirium, and length of stay rates over time. In addition, positive clinical response was higher in the active vs sham group. There was no significant difference in the prespecified secondary outcomes at 5 days. Adverse events were similar between groups.
conclusionsAmong patients with COVID-19 and moderate to severe ARDS, use of active HD-tDCS compared with sham HD-tDCS plus respiratory rehabilitation resulted in a statistically significant increase in the number of ventilator-free days over 28 days. HD-tDCS combined with concurrent rehabilitation therapy is a safe, feasible, potentially add-on intervention, and further trials should examine HD-tDCS efficacy in a larger sample of patients with COVID-19 and severe hypoxemia.
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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.