Rehabilitation Needs of the First Cohort of Post-acute COVID-19 Patients in Hubei, China

Background: Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease. Despite being clinically cured, some patients still find it difficult to return to their normal life and work due to the varying degree of dysfunctions that they have, as part of the disease's aftereffect. Through this study, we aim to learn more about the dysfunctions and rehabilitation needs of COVID-19 patients.

Methods: In this survey, the basic information, dysfunctions, and rehabilitation needs of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients, who were selected by convenience sampling in Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, were obtained using a self-designed questionnaire. The research was conducted from February 29, 2020 to March 2, 2020.

Results: A total of 280 patients were finally included, who were mainly over 51 years of age (64.2%). The main physical dysfunctions that the patients had were sleep disorders (63.6%), decreased activity endurance (61.4%), and respiratory dysfunction (57.9%), while the main psychological dysfunctions included anxiety (62.1%) and fear (50.0%). Rehabilitation that mainly requested by the patients included exercise guidance, dietary instruction, traditional Chinese medicine therapy, physical therapy, and Chinese traditional health exercises.

Conclusions: The demand for rehabilitation is high among COVID-19 patients, which requires the quick establishment of a comprehensive and individualized rehabilitation program, to be fulfilled.