Rehabilitation interventions and outcomes for post-COVID condition: a scoping review, 2025, Saunders et al

Rehabilitation interventions and outcomes for post-COVID condition: a scoping review

Emily G Saunders, Dimitra V Pouliopoulou, Erin Miller, Nicole Billias, Joy C MacDermid, Laura Brunton, Tiago V Pereira, Kieran L Quinn, Pavlos Bobos

Objective
Several rehabilitation interventions have been proposed to support people with post-COVID-19 condition (PCC). However, the full spectrum of these interventions remains unclear, partly due to the complexity of PCC, which encompasses a broad range of symptoms affecting multiple organ systems and health domains. This scoping review aimed to identify the available rehabilitation interventions for PCC and the outcome measures used to evaluate them, to facilitate the development of multifaceted interventions and improve patient care.

Methods
Following the Joanna Briggs Institute Framework, we searched CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, CENTRAL and Scopus databases from inception to 22 January 2024 for experimental and observational studies investigating rehabilitation interventions for adults with PCC. Interventions and their corresponding outcome measures were synthesised based on targeted outcomes aligned with the most common manifestations of PCC. The quality of intervention reporting was assessed using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist.

Results
We identified 74 studies; 28 randomised trials (37.8%) and 46 observational and quasi-experimental designs (62.2%). Most interventions consisted of different combinations of education, exercises and therapies to manage dyspnoea, fatigue and psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Few studies addressed postexertional malaise, cognitive function, memory, balance and coordination. At least half of the included studies required a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection for participant inclusion. Reporting on adherence rates was limited, and 65% of the studies did not report adverse events.

Conclusion
There is a need for more comprehensive and inclusive approaches that address the full spectrum of PCC symptomatology to improve patient care and enhance the reproducibility of future studies.

Link | PDF (BMJ Public Health) [Open Access]

 

The nature of which is entirely irrelevant. Everything in there is generic, a library of book covers where the pages may as well be blank. It should be treated as one intervention, rehabilitation, using different rituals and/or tchotchkes.

And a thousand years from now, if science and technology stagnated, progressing no further in giving useful answers, the exact same could be written, with slightly bigger numbers, and no more or less substance to the whole.

Absurd, pathetic fake industry. They could seriously just keep doing the same nonsense indefinitely. I chose a thousand years but even a million wouldn't put a dent in how it's promising and so on.