Rehabilitation With Integrated Traditional Chinese And Western Medicine On COVID-19: A Clinical Research

Purpose:To observe the effects of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine rehabilitation on exercise endurance,lung function,dyspnea and anxiety in patients with COVID-19 during the recovery period,so as to provide an effective rehabilitation program.Method:This study is a prospective cohort study.We enrolled 108COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized in Hubei Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine from February26 to March 30,2020.Patients voluntarily chose to receive Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine rehabilitation combined with conventional treatment or to receive conventional treatment alone.The observation group is given Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine rehabilitation combined with conventional treatment（n=62）,and the control group is given conventional treatment alone（n=46）.Rehabilitation treatment with Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine includes Baduanjin exercises,breathing training,and aerobic training.The observation period is 2 weeks.A total of 103 patients completed2 weeks of treatment（59 in the observation group and 44 in the control group）.We Analyzed the outcome before treatment and after2 weeks of treatment.The primary outcome was the six-minute walk distance（6MWD）,the secondary outcomes were the forced expiratory volume in the first second as a percentage of the predicted value（FEV₁%）,the Modified Medical Research Society’s dyspnea scale（m MRC）score and Hamilton anxiety scale（HAM-A）score.Result:During the study,in the observation group,3 cases had dropped out.In these cases,2 cases were discharged early due to improvement of symptoms,and 1 case had poor treatment compliance.In the control group,2 cases had dropped out,In these cases,1case was discharged early due to family problems,and 1 case did not cooperate to complete examinations.There were 103 cases in the end.After 2 weeks of treatment,the 6MWD,FEV₁%,m MRC score,and HAM-A score of the two groups improved compared with the same group before treatment,and the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）.After 2 weeks of treatment,the median 6MWD change in the observation group was 32 meters,and the median 6MWD change in the control group was 12 meters.The difference between the two groups was statistically significant（Z=-3.15,P=0.002）.The median m MRC score changes in the observation group was-1,and the median m MRC score changes in the control group was 0 points.The difference between the two groups was statistically significant（Z=-2.87,P=0.004）.The median HAM-A score change of the observation group was-8 points,and the median HAM-A score change of the control group was-4 points.The difference between the two groups was statistically significant（Z=-4.34,P<0.001）.There was no statistically significant difference in FEV₁%change between the observation group and the control group.Sensitivity analysis（including propensity score matching and covariance analysis）showed that after 2 weeks of treatment,the6MWD,m MRC score and HAM-A score of the observation group improved better than the control group.Conclusion:（1）Rehabilitation therapy combined with Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine plus conventional treatment,or conventional treatment alone,can improve the exercise endurance,improve lung function,relieve symptoms of dyspnea,and improve anxiety in COVID-19 patients.（2）Rehabilitation treatment combined with Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine plus conventional treatment is better than conventional treatment alone in improving exercise endurance,ameliorating dyspnea and anxiety of COVID-19 patients.