SynthesisFrontiers in medicine2026
Effects of exercise programs on cardiopulmonary function and signs and symptoms in patients with post-COVID-19 condition: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Exercise is increasingly recognized as an effective adjuvant therapy for individuals with post-COVID-19 condition. However, exercise interventions vary widely in intensity, frequency, setting, and duration. To date, no systematic review and meta-analysis has evaluated programs lasting at least 6 weeks in this population. This study aimed to assess the effects of exercise on cardiopulmonary function and clinical symptoms in patients with post-COVID-19 condition. Methods: We systematically searched for studies involving patients with post-COVID-19 condition in the Embase, MEDLINE/PubMed, and Scopus databases. The databases were searched using keywords including COVID-19 OR coronavirus OR SARS-CoV-2, AND exercise OR physical exercise OR rehabilitation program, AND pulmonary function OR lung function OR signs and symptoms, AND randomiz* contro* trial OR clinical trial OR RCT on July 2024. The risk of bias of individual trials and the certainty of the body of evidence were evaluated using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach, respectively. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement was used to describe the study selection process. The mean (± standard deviation) for continuous data and the frequency ( Results: We included 10 randomized controlled trials comprising 602 participants. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 70 years. The average exercise duration across the 10 studies was 8.6 weeks (ranging from 6 to 16 weeks). Most exercise programs included aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, breathing exercise, thoracic mobility exercise, chest expansion exercise, and respiratory muscle training. The exercise programs included home-based or telehealth-based programs, center-based programs, and combined center- and home-based programs. Compared with control groups (e.g., usual care, exercise advice, or no structured exercise), exercise interventions significantly improved exercise capacity (6-min walk distance), pulmonary function (forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s), dyspnea (the modified Medical Research Council scale), physical pain, and health-related quality of life domains. The overall certainty of evidence for all outcome measures ranged from moderate to high. Conclusion: Exercise programs of at least 6 weeks are associated with improved cardiopulmonary function, reduced dyspnea and pain, and enhanced physical and health-related outcomes in patients with post-COVID-19 condition. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024538786.
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.