Paramedical Sciences and Military Health

Introduction: The outbreak of COVID-19 caused many changes in people's lives, and most of the people's needs were met in non-personal and virtual ways. COVID-19 patients often need rehabilitation after the end of the infection period. This study aims to investigate comparison of the effects of center-based pulmonary rehabilitation versus remote pulmonary rehabilitation on the prognosis of patients with COVID19.
Materials and Methods: 52 patients were divided into two groups. In-person and remote pulmonary rehabilitation was examined in this study. Both groups received respiratory physiotherapy. One group referred to a rehabilitation center and the other received instructions remotely. Both groups were followed up over three months using the 6-minute walking test.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 43.40 ± 7.74 years, and 53.8% of them were men. There was not any significant difference in terms of age (p=0.406), gender (p=0.404), and occupation (p=0.878) between the two study groups. There was not any significant difference in quality of life (p=0.451), anxiety level (p=0.310), and depression score (p=0.554) between the two study groups. In addition, Barthel index studies showed that there was not any significant difference between the two groups from this point of view. There was not any significant change in the values of 6-minute walk in any of the attendance (p=0.273) and non-attendance (p=0.185) groups during the three-month follow-up. Furthermore, the changes in the 6-minute walk did not show any significant difference between the two groups (p=0.212).
Conclusion: The results of our study showed that none of these two methods are superior to each other in improving the condition of patients. However, it should be kept in mind that the non-attendance method is preferable to the in-person process because it does not require the patient's presence, spending a lot of time and wasting time. More studies are needed to complete these results; moreover, discussing about Internet access restrictions and related problems should also be considered.