ArticleInternal and emergency medicine2022
Relationship between the severity of persistent symptoms, physical fitness, and cardiopulmonary function in post-COVID-19 condition. A population-based analysis.
Article in Internal and emergency medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and long-term outcomes of brain fog and cognitive impairment in individuals with long COVID: A systematic review.Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of long COVID on physical and cardiorespiratory parameters: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Donepezil for Fatigue and Psychological Symptoms in Post-COVID-19 Condition: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Online and Face-to-Face Mat Pilates Training for Long COVID-19 Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial on Health Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Trial
- Effects of a concurrent training, respiratory muscle exercise, and self-management recommendations on recovery from post-COVID-19 conditions: the RECOVE trial.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Trial
- The Association of Headache and Physical Activity in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Cohort Study.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Article
- Correlations Between Oxygen Consumption, Ventilatory Mechanics, and Lung Ultrasound in Individuals with Post-COVID Syndrome.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Musculoskeletal Sequelae of Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A Systematic Review.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Impact of Physical Activity on Long COVID Symptoms Among College Students: A Retrospective Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Maximal oxygen uptake, pulmonary function and walking economy are not impaired in patients diagnosed with long COVID.European journal of applied physiology · 2025Article
- The Physical Condition and Mental Health of Chinese College Students 3 Months After COVID-19 Recovery.American journal of lifestyle medicine · 2024Article
- Understanding Fatigue, Insomnia, and COVID-19 PTSS Among Mainland Chinese During Initial Post-Zero-COVID Infection Wave: A Multi-Group Analysis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Efficacy of Donepezil for Fatigue and Psychological Symptoms in Post-COVID-19 Condition: Study Protocol for a Multicenter Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Double-blind Trial.Annals of clinical epidemiology · 2024Article
- Post-COVID-19 condition symptoms among emergency department patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Association of physical symptoms with accelerometer-measured movement behaviors and functional capacity in individuals with Long COVID.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of Exercise Rehabilitation on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Long-COVID-19 Survivors: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Comparison of cardiorespiratory parameters between 6-minute walk test and 1-minute sit to stand test in young adults with post-COVID-19: follow-up 3 months.Journal of thoracic disease · 2024Article
- Implementation of a Provincial Long COVID Care Pathway in Alberta, Canada: Provider Perceptions.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Higher level of physical activity reduces mental and neurological symptoms during and two years after COVID-19 infection in young women.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between physical fitness, cardiopulmonary function and patient-reported severity of symptoms in people with post-COVID-19 condition. We examined ambulatory patients (n = 72) with post-COVID-19 condition who had a chronic symptomatic phase lasting > 12 weeks from the onset of symptoms, but had not been hospitalized for acute COVID-19. A comprehensive medical screening was conducted, including clinical history, symptomatology, comorbidities, body composition and physical activity levels. We then identified the relationship between physical fitness (cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength), cardiopulmonary function (echocardiographic and spirometry parameters) and patient-reported severity of symptoms (fatigue, dyspnea, health-related quality of life, anxiety, and depression). Age, body mass index, sex, number of comorbidities and duration of symptoms were included as potential confounders. Results showed that greater physical fitness and cardiopulmonary function were associated with lower severity of symptoms in people with post-COVID-19 condition. Cardiorespiratory fitness, lower-limb muscle strength, maximal voluntary ventilation and left ventricular ejection fraction account for reducing fatigue and dyspnea. Greater physical activity levels were associated with fewer symptoms and less-severe fatigue and dyspnea. In conclusion, preserving better cardiopulmonary health and physical condition during the course of the disease-even in mild cases-was related to a lower intensity of symptoms in non-hospitalized people with post-COVID-19 condition. It is probable that exercise and physical conditioning are valuable pre- and post-COVID-19 countermeasures that could help decrease the severity, not only of acute infection, but of post-COVID-19 persistent symptoms and prognosis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.