Characteristics of Patients with Severe COVID-19 Who Walked Independently upon Discharge
- VernacularTitle:重症COVID-19における退院時自立歩行獲得症例の特徴
- Author:
Kenji OIKE
1
;
Osamu ISHIBASHI
2
;
Nobuyuki NOSAKA
1
;
Akira ENDO
3
Author Information
- Keywords: severe coronavirus disease 2019; gait independence; early mobilization
- From:The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 2024;():24001-
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
- Abstract: Objective：Independent walking is crucial for critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients to return home. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of patients with severe COVID-19 who could walk independently upon discharge.Methods：This study included 26 patients with severe COVID-19 who were admitted to our ICU between April 2020 and September 2023. Patient background, ICU progress, and outcome-related events were compared between the independent and dependent groups.Results：Compared to the dependent group, the independent group had a lower pre-admission clinical frailty scale score (2.0 [2.0-2.5] vs. 3.0 [2.5-3.0]) and shorter time to start standing (seven days [6-9] vs. 13 days [11-17]) and walking (10 days [8-11] vs. 20 days [13-50]). Functional status scores in the ICU (28±5. vs. 12±9) and ICU mobility scale (8 [8-10] vs. 5 [3-7]) were higher upon ICU discharge, while the duration of ventilator management (seven [4-9] vs. nine [8-18] days) and ICU length of stay (10 [10-14] vs. 17 [15-23] days) were shorter. They had fewer complications (two [18.2％] vs. 12 [80.0％]) and higher return-to-home rates (10 [90.9％] vs. two [13.3％]).Conclusion：Patients with severe COVID-19 who walked independently upon discharge had lower pre-admission frailty, fewer complications, shorter ventilator management duration, early mobilization, higher physical activity upon ICU discharge, shorter ICU stay, and higher return-to-home rates.
