SynthesisPhysical therapy2025
Functional Recovery of Adults Following Acute COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Physical therapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Functional Recovery of Adults Following Acute COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physical therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Persistent impairments in muscle function and symptom burden in post-COVID syndrome: a prospective longitudinal study.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Observational
- Long-term health outcomes and risk factors for low self-rated health in non-hospitalised adults with post-COVID-19 condition: a 2.5-year cohort study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Health outcomes in hospitalised and non-hospitalised individuals after COVID-19, an observational, cross-sectional study.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Validation of a Questionnaire on the Post-COVID-19 Condition (Long COVID): A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy.Infectious disease reports · 2025Article
- Functional recovery 2-years after hospitalization for COVID-19: Insights from the COREG-FR extension study.PloS one · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the objective, functional recovery of patients more than 3 months after acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.
methodsComprehensive database searches of EMBASE, PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register, CINAHL, and Google Scholar in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement were carried out until October 19, 2022. Data were extracted and agreed in duplicate. Data were narratively synthesized, and a series of meta-analyses were performed using the random-effects inverse variance method.
resultsOne-hundred six papers covering 20,063 patients, who were either hospitalized or not hospitalized with acute COVID-19 and were followed-up between 3 and 24 months, were included. Percentage predicted 6-minute walk distance at 3 months to <5 months was 84.3% (95% CI = 79.2-89.3; n = 21; I2 = 98.3%) and 92.5% (95% CI = 89.8-95.3; n = 9; I2 = 94.5%) at ≥11 months. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing revealed the percentage predicted peak oxygen consumption rate ($peak\dot{\mathsf{V}}{\mathsf{o}}_{\mathsf{2}}$) at 3 months to <5 months was 77.3% (95% CI = 71.0-83.7; n = 6; I2 = 92.3%) and 95.4% (95% CI = 87.1-103.6; n = 2; I2 = 77.3%) at ≥11 months. Mean handgrip strength was greatest at ≥11 months at 31.16 kg (95% CI = 19.89-42.43; n = 2; I2 = 98.3%) of all time points. All analyses showed marked heterogeneity.
conclusionPatients have reduced physical function more than 3 months after COVID-19 infection. Better physical function in multiple physical domains is found after a longer recovery time. IMPACT: Physical function as measured by the 6-minute walk test, hand grip strength, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing is reduced at 3 months after COVID-19 infection and can remain over 11 months of follow-up. This protracted recovery following acute COVID-19 infection supports the need to assess physical function at any clinical follow-up, and further research into rehabilitation programs and intervention for patients who have not recovered.
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