REHABILITATION AFTER COVID-19: THE EXPERIENCE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES. REVIEW.

Abstract

Background: Rehabilitation involves collaboration across various disciplines and is pivotal in reintegrating patients with COVID-19, particularly focusing on their respiratory and motor systems. It plays a critical role in the care of COVID-19 patients, underscoring the necessity of devising treatment strategies to facilitate their optimal recovery. In the face of this socio-medical problem, rehabilitation teams are of particular importance. A month after discharge from the intensive care unit, patients with COVID-19 had severely limited functionality. Even 6-12 months after discharge, a significant proportion of infected patients have symptoms such as fatigue, muscle weakness, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. Symptoms of COVID-19 can persist for several months and cause a syndrome called persistent COVID (or prolonged COVID), which have adverse effects on the health of patients - from cardiac, neurological and respiratory problems to skin and gastrointestinal symptoms. Objective. To analyze the literature data on rehabilitation measures after a coronavirus infection. Search strategy. A literature review was conducted on PubMed, Google Scholar and Cochrane databases. The study employed "Rehabilitation", "respiratory rehabilitation" or "lung rehabilitation" in combination with mesh terms and free-text terms such as "COVID-19", "Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2", "2019-n CoV" or "SARS-CoV-2". A total of 240 publications were identified on this subject. Out of these, 60 publications aligned with the objectives of our study. Results and conclusions. Various studies have investigated the impact of the pandemic on rehabilitation services and made recommendations for the reconstruction of these services. In addition, other studies have focused on the aftermath of COVID-19 and made recommendations for rehabilitation interventions. A comprehensive rehabilitation process is recommended for COVID-19 patients. Multidisciplinary groups need to provide patient support in various disciplines such as neuromuscular, cardiac, respiratory and psychological fields. Rehabilitation specialists should apply targeted therapy after evaluating the patient's condition and thoroughly evaluating the clinical situation.