Effect of Home-based Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Fatigue, Dyspnea, and Activities of Daily Living of COVID-19 Patients

The acute nature and complications of COVID-19, including fatigue and dyspnea, reduce the ability of the affected individuals to play individual and social roles and perform activities of daily living, and have adverse effects on the life quality and economic status of patients. Conducting pre-discharge rehabilitation programs following a home-based approach can be effective in reducing fatigue and dyspnea and improving the activities of daily living of COVID-19 patients.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of home-based pulmonary rehabilitation on fatigue, dyspnea, and activities of daily living of COVID-19 patients in the teaching hospitals of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2020.

The quasi-experimental study enrolled 60 patients with COVID-19 respiratory symptoms admitted to the COVID-19 intensive care units of teaching hospitals affiliated with Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2020. The patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected using convenience sampling and randomly divided into intervention and control groups with color cards. The instruments used to collect the data were the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), the Borg Dyspnea Scale, and the Barthel Index completed by the participants before, two weeks, and two months after the intervention. The rehabilitation training was provided to the patient and the primary caregiver in the intervention group in three 45-min sessions individually and using training videos during the hospital stay. After discharge, the patients were followed up in person or by phone for eight weeks to ensure the effectiveness of the rehabilitation program. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS-22 software through repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent samples t-test, and chi-square test at a significance level of 0.05 (P < 0.05).

The repeated measures ANOVA showed that changes in the fatigue and dyspnea scores were significant over time (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the intervention effect was significant (P = 0.04), and more remarkable changes were observed in the intervention group than in the control group. Given the significance of the group-time interactive effect on the two given variables, the comparisons were made point by point and with Bonferroni correction again by time and group. There were significant differences in the mean fatigue scores in the second (P = 0.03) and third (P < 0.001) stages and the mean dyspnea scores (P < 0.001) between the two groups. The mean scores of activities of daily living two weeks and two months after the intervention were significantly different between the two groups, with higher scores in the intervention group than in the control group (P = 0.01). The repeated measures ANOVA confirmed a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the effect of time (P < 0.001) and group (P = 0.03) on the patients’ activities of daily living.

The study showed that home-based pulmonary rehabilitation measures were effective on fatigue, dyspnea, and activities of daily living of COVID-19 patients. Thus, this intervention approach by nurses for family participation can be practical for treating acute and chronic respiratory diseases.