Telerehabilitation program for COVID-19 survivors (TERECO) - Randomized controlled trial

Objectives To investigate superiority of a telerehabilitation program for Covid-19 (TERECO) over no rehabilitation with regard to exercise capacity, lower-limb muscle strength (LMS), pulmonary function, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and dyspnoea. Design Parallel-group randomised controlled-trial with 1:1 block-randomisation. Setting Three major hospitals from Jiangsu and Hubei provinces, China. Participants 120 formerly hospitalised Covid-19 survivors with remaining dyspnoea complaints were randomised with 61 allocated to control and 59 to TERECO. Intervention Unsupervised home-based 6-week exercise program comprising breathing control and thoracic expansion, aerobic exercise, and LMS exercise, delivered via smartphone, and remotely monitored with heart rate telemetry. Outcomes Primary outcome was 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) in metres. Secondary outcomes were squat time in seconds; pulmonary function assessed by spirometry; HRQOL measured ...