Safety, feasibility and initial efficacy of an app-facilitated telerehabilitation (AFTER) programme for COVID-19 survivors: a pilot randomised study.
BMJ Open
; 12(7): e061285, 2022 07 26.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1962308
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
Determine the safety, feasibility and initial efficacy of a multicomponent telerehabilitation programme for COVID-19 survivors.DESIGN:
Pilot randomised feasibility study.SETTING:
In-home telerehabilitation.PARTICIPANTS:
44 participants (21 female, mean age 52 years) discharged home following hospitalisation with COVID-19 (with and without intensive care unit (ICU) stay).INTERVENTIONS:
Participants were block randomised 21 to receive 12 individual biobehaviourally informed, app-facilitated, multicomponent telerehabilitation sessions with a licenced physical therapist (n=29) or to a control group (n=15) consisting of education on exercise and COVID-19 recovery trajectory, physical activity and vitals monitoring, and weekly check-ins with study staff. Interventions were 100% remote and occurred over 12 weeks. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMEMEASURES:
The primary outcome was feasibility, including safety and session adherence. Secondary outcomes included preliminary efficacy outcomes including tests of function and balance; patient-reported outcome measures; a cognitive assessment; and average daily step count. The 30 s chair stand test was the main secondary (efficacy) outcome.RESULTS:
No adverse events (AEs) occurred during testing or in telerehabilitation sessions; 38% (11/29) of the intervention group compared with 60% (9/15) of the control group experienced an AE (p=0.21), most of which were minor, over the course of the 12-week study. 27 of 29 participants (93%; 95% CI 77% to 99%) receiving the intervention attended ≥75% of sessions. Both groups demonstrated clinically meaningful improvement in secondary outcomes with no statistically significant differences between groups.CONCLUSION:
Fully remote telerehabilitation was safe, feasible, had high adherence for COVID-19 recovery, and may apply to other medically complex patients including those with barriers to access care. This pilot study was designed to evaluate feasibility; further efficacy evaluation is needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT04663945.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mobile Applications
/
Telerehabilitation
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjopen-2022-061285
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