December 2021 CME Activity: Inpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes After Severe COVID-19 Infections-Inpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes After Severe COVID-19 Infections

Inpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes After Severe COVID-19 Infections

Pdf Summary

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to describe the characteristics and functional outcomes of patients undergoing acute inpatient rehabilitation after being hospitalized for COVID-19. The study included 43 COVID-19 patients admitted to the inpatient rehabilitation hospital and compared them to 247 patients without COVID-19 with similar impairment codes treated at the same facility before the pandemic.<br /><br />The results showed that COVID-19 patients were more likely to be African American and to have been admitted to a long-term acute care hospital. They also had a longer length of rehabilitation stay. However, there were no differences between the groups in terms of age, sex, or insurance. Functionally, COVID-19 patients presented with worse mobility, self-care, and motor scores at the time of admission. However, by the time of discharge, they had similar functional outcomes to the non-COVID-19 group.<br /><br />This suggests that although patients with a history of COVID-19 had worse function at the time of admission to acute rehabilitation, inpatient rehabilitation significantly improved their function to comparable levels as patients who did not have COVID-19.<br /><br />Inpatient rehabilitation is an effective strategy to restore functioning in COVID-19 survivors and may help reduce racial disparities in outcomes after COVID-19 hospitalization. The findings highlight the potential benefits of rehabilitation for patients with COVID-19 and support the need for continued research in this area.

Keywords

retrospective cohort study

acute inpatient rehabilitation

COVID-19 patients

functional outcomes

long-term acute care hospital

rehabilitation stay

mobility

self-care

motor scores

inpatient rehabilitation