Pulmonary telerehabilitation and efficacy among discharged COVID-19 patients: Rational and design of a prospective real-world study.

Introduction: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could cause physical and psychological dysfunction in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected patients. Pulmonary telerehabilitation is strongly recommended due to the contagious nature of the disease, but its efficacy and benefit need to be comprehensively evaluated.

Methods: An 8-week pulmonary telerehabilitation programme is designed in a real-world and prospective manner, aiming to assess the efficacy of remote rehabilitation among discharged patients with COVID-19 from three designated hospitals in the epicenter of China (Wuhan City). The telerehabilitation programme includes physicians and physiotherapists remotely guided training (online) for 2 weeks, and patient self-managed rehabilitation (offline) for 6 weeks with assistance of information technology and digital device. The main rehabilitation intervention includes breathing exercise, respiratory muscle training, aerobic exercise, and resistance training. The primary outcome is 6-min walk distance, and secondly pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, physical activity, symptom, psychological status and quality of life, etc. will also be assessed. Patients will be followed up periodically at week two, four, eight after enrolment and at month one, three, six and 12 after the rehabilitation accomplished, respectively. Current study has been approved by the ethics committee of China-Japan Friendship Hospital and three participating centers in Wuhan City.

Discussion: We anticipate that the health status of discharged patients with COVID-19 could be improved through this systemic pulmonary telerehabilitation programme. The interdisciplinary remote mode of rehabilitation could be an optimal way in management of emerging respiratory tract infectious disease.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04368793.