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REVIEW Free access
European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 2020 December;56(6):839-45
DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.20.06614-9
Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA
language: English
Rehabilitation and COVID-19: the Cochrane Rehabilitation 2020 rapid living systematic review. Update as of August 31st, 2020
Alessandro de SIRE 1, 2, Elisa ANDRENELLI 3, Francesco NEGRINI 4 ✉, Stefano G. LAZZARINI 5, Michele PATRINI 5, Maria G. CERAVOLO 3, The International Multiprofessional Steering Committee of Cochrane Rehabilitation REH-COVER action
1 Unit of Physical and Rehabilitative Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy; 2 Rehabilitation Unit, Mons. L. Novarese Hospital, Moncrivello, Vercelli, Italy; 3 Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Politecnica delle Marche University, Ancona, Italy; 4 IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy; 5 IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi, Milan, Italy
Update of: https://www.doi.org/10.23736/S1973-9087.20.06501-6
INTRODUCTION: A monthly systematic review update is carried out to maintain the currency of scientific literature on rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19 and/or describing consequences due to the disease and its treatment, as they relate to limitations in functioning of rehabilitation interest. The aim of this study was to provide an updated summary of the available evidence published in August 2020.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: An extensive search on the main medical literature databases from August 1st, 2020 to August 31st, 2020 was performed, according to the methodology described in the second edition of the Cochrane Rehabilitation 2020 rapid living systematic review.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: After removing duplicates, 1136 papers were identified, and 51 studies were finally included. According to OCEBM 2011 Levels of Evidence Table, they were Level 4 in most cases (76.5%) and Level 3 in the remaining (23.5%). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were not found. Thirty-two studies (62.7%) included COVID-19 patients who were assessed in the acute (20/32) or postacute phases (12/32). The other studies reported data on the impact of COVID-19 infection (7/19) or on the effect of lockdown restrictions (12/19) on subjects with pre-existing health conditions.
CONCLUSIONS: The scientific literature of August 2020 mainly focused on limitations in functioning of nervous system structure and related functions. Albeit the increased availability of data from analytical studies (both cohort and cross-sectional), there is still a lack of well-conducted Level 2 studies, to improve the knowledge on the effects of rehabilitation in COVID-19 patients.
KEY WORDS: COVID-19; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Coronavirus; Rehabilitation; Physical and rehabilitation medicine