Intrahospital supervised exercise training improves survival rate among hypertensive patients with COVID-19

Francisco Fernandez, Manuel Vazquez-Muñoz, Andrea Canals, Alexis Arce-Álvarez, Camila Salazar-Ardiles, Cristian Alvarez, Rodrigo Ramirez-Campillo, Gregoire P. Millet, Mikel Izquierdo, David C. Andrade

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Among the people most affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are those suffering from hypertension (HTN). However, pharmacological therapies for HTN are ineffective against COVID-19 progression and severity. It has been proposed that exercise training (EX) could be used as post-COVID treatment, which does not rule out the possible effects during hospitalization for COVID-19. Therefore, we aimed to determine the impact of supervised EX on HTN patients with COVID-19 during hospitalization. Among a total of 1,508 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 (confirmed by PCR), 439 subjects were classified as having HTN and were divided into two groups: EX (n = 201) and control (n = 238) groups. EX (3-4 times/wk during all hospitalizations) consisted of aerobic exercises (15-45 min; i.e., walking); breathing exercises (10-15 min) (i.e., diaphragmatic breathing, pursed-lip breathing, active abdominal contraction); and musculoskeletal exercises (8-10 sets of 12-15 repetitions/wk; lifting dumbbells, standing up and sitting, lumbar stabilization). Our data revealed that the EX (clinician: patient, 1:1 ratio) intervention was able to improve survival rates among controlled HTN patients with COVID-19 during their hospitalization when compared with the control group (chi-squared: 4.83; hazard ratio: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.117 to 2.899; P = 0.027). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that EX was a prognostic marker (odds ratio: 0.449; 95% CI: 0.230-0.874; P = 0.018) along with sex and invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation. Our data showed that an intrahospital supervised EX program reduced the mortality rate among patients with HTN suffering from COVID-19 during their hospitalization.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In the present study, we found that exercise training improves the survival rate in hypertensive patients with COVID-19 during their hospitalization period. Our results provide strong evidence for the therapeutic efficacy of exercise training as a feasible approach to improving the outcomes of patients with COVID-19 who suffer from hypertension during their hospitalization.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)678-684
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985)
Volume134
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2023

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • exercise training
  • hypertension
  • intrahospital

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physiology
  • Physiology (medical)

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