ArticleFrontiers in medicine2025
Use of speleotherapy in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
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6 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) is characterized by persistent or newly developed symptoms and performance deficits lasting at least 3 months following SARS-CoV-2 infection, with dyspnea as a common symptom. Speleotherapy, a form of climatotherapy utilizing the microclimatic conditions of natural or artificial caves, has been proposed as a supportive treatment for chronic airway diseases, potentially improving lung function and exercise tolerance. Methods: This study investigated the short-term effects of speleotherapy on lung diffusion capacity (DLCO) in PCS patients through a prospective interrupted time-series analysis. Forty-six patients (51.9 ± 9.3 years; 43% female) referred for rehabilitation were included, with a history of COVID-19 infection and persistent deficits lasting over 3 months. Patients underwent spirometric assessments of DLCO repeatedly on days without speleotherapy intervention and on days with intervention, alongside subjective symptom evaluations using the Nijmegen questionnaire. Results: PCS patients performed a median of four out of seven speleotherapy sessions during rehabilitation, resulting in a total of 388 measurements. Analysis revealed no significant changes in DLCO or related parameters (transfer coefficient (KCO), inspiratory volume (IV), total lung capacity (TLC), Residual volume (RV)) during rehabilitation and between speleotherapy and control days ( Conclusion: Speleotherapy did not improve DLCO or alleviate symptoms in PCS patients within this study cohort. Further research is needed to investigate whether speleotherapy can alleviate pulmonary dysfunction in different PCS populations.
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