COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV2 virus, that first appeared in China in 2019 and in Italy in February 2020.
Approximately 80% of people infected with COVID-19 have mild to moderate disease with few symptoms, while more than 10% develop a severe disease that can lead to hypoxic respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Severe patients can require access to intensive care unit (ICU) needing invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and hospitalization for a long period.
Early rehabilitation is known to be effective in critically ill patients and in ARDS, to reduce functional impairment due to the prolonged stay in ICU. Many works demonstrated that early rehabilitation programs in ICU correlated with faster recovery and discharge at home of ARDS patients and better outcomes in the walking test at discharge from the hospital.
Due to the recent development of COVID-19, few data and guidelines to menage severe COVID-19 patients are available and the role of respiratory physiotherapy is still unclear.
The aim of this study is to describe the bundle and the timing of respiratory physiotherapy used with severe COVID-19 patients from ICU to hospital discharge. Functional condition of patients at discharge will be assessed and described.
