COVID-19: patient characteristics in the first phase of post-intensive care rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE: To describe clinical characteristics of post-ICU COVID-19 patients, admitted for inpatient rehabilitation. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design. SETTING: Inpatient rehabilitation care in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: All post-ICU COVID-19 patients admitted to the rehabilitation centre between April 2 and May 13, 2020 were invited to participate in the study. Included were patients above 18 years old, needing inpatient rehabilitation after ICU treatment for COVID-19. INTERVENTION: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: The following information was collected in the first week of inpatient rehabilitation care: 1. Demographics, 2. ICU-stay parameters, 3. Medical, physical and functional characteristics, 4. Self-reported symptoms. RESULTS: Sixty patients participated with the mean age of 59.9 and the majority being men(75%). Most important findings for rehabilitation: in the first week after discharge to the rehabilitation centre 38.3% of all patients experienced exercise-induced oxygen desaturation, in 72.7% muscle weakness was present in all major muscle groups and 21.7% had a reduced mobility in one or both shoulders. Furthermore 40% suffered from dysphagia and 39.2% reported symptoms of anxiety. CONCLUSION: Post-ICU COVID-19 patients, display physical and anxiety symptoms as reported in other post-ICU patient groups. However this study showed some remarkable clinical characteristics of post-ICU COVID-19 patients. Rehabilitation programs need to anticipate on this. Long-term follow-up studies are necessary.