Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on exercise capacity in PAH patients.

The outbreak of novel coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) was classified as a global pandemic thanks to the rapid viral spread, and restrictive policy measures of infection containment, including "lockdown" periods and self-isolation, were first instituted in Belgium from March to June 2020. The consequent reduction in physical activity could have a negative impact on exercise capacity, especially in frail patients with pre-existing chronic diseases, such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). With the aim to define the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on functional status, we included in our observational analysis clinically stable PAH patients, who had performed at least four consecutive 6-min walking tests (6MWT) during 2019-2020, to compare their exercise performance before and after the lockdown.