Affiliation:
1. School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China
2. School of Nursing The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong China
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundLong COVID is prevalent in the general population. Exercise is a promising component of rehabilitation for long COVID patients.AimThis study examined the effects of exercise interventions on managing long COVID symptoms.MethodsIn this systematic review and meta‐analysis, a systematic search was conducted through June 2023 using keywords such as “long COVID” and “post‐acute COVID‐19 syndrome” among major electronic databases. Randomized controlled trials that examined the effect of exercise on patients suffering from long COVID were included. Nine studies involving 672 individuals were included in this study.ResultsThe main outcomes for exercise interventions in patients with long COVID were fatigue, dyspnea, anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment. The exercise interventions comprised aerobic exercise, multimodal exercise, breathing exercise, and Taichi. Most of the included studies (6/9) were at high risk of bias. According to the meta‐analyses, exercise significantly improved long COVID fatigue (ES = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.27 to 1.50) and dyspnea (ES = 1.21, 95% CI [0.33, 2.09]), whereas no significant effect was identified on long COVID anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment. According to subgroup analyses, multimodal exercise had the broadest spectrum of benefits on long COVID symptoms (including fatigue, dyspnea, and depression), and supervised exercise, intervention frequency ≤4 times a week, the passive control group also showed a positive effect on some long COVID symptoms.