Long-term physical impairments in survivors of COVID-19-associated ARDS compared to classic ARDS. A Two-Center Study (preprint)

We carried out a prospective and retrospective case series study to compare physical outcome performance with an in-person evaluation of 248 COVID-related ARDS (CARDS) patients and 48 classic ARDS patients. At 6 months, patients with classic ARDS compared to CARDS had lower MRCss, handgrip dynamometry, and 6 Minutes Walk Test. Fatigue was more frequently reported by patients with classic ARDS. At 12 months, patients in both groups partially regained physical performances, and the differences in measured variables between classic ARDS and CARDS remained constant over time. Reasons for these differences are likely multifactorial and require further investigations.