Exercise and Post-COVID/ Long-COVID: Effects of Different Training Modalities on Various Parameters in People Affected by the Sequelae of COVID-19

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Long COVID-19; Post-COVID-19 Syndrome; COVID-19
• Interventions: Other: endurance training; Other: concurrent training

• Registration Number: NCT05204511
• Lead Sponsor: University of Vienna

Brief Summary

The current COVID-19 pandemic is the most severe health crisis of the 21st century. This is not only due to the deaths caused by the disease. People that were affected by COVID-19 and supposedly recovered may suffer from long lasting sequelae. The presence of symptoms longer than 3 months after the infection with SARS-CoV-2 is referred to as Post-COVID-19 Syndrome or Long COVID-19. It is estimated that 10-20 percent of all infected people are affected. The most common symptoms include persistent fatigue, reduced physical capacity, dyspnoea, ageusia, anosmia, musculoskeletal pain and neuropsychological complaints such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and a loss of concentration.

Considering the novelty of the pathology, evidence on the successful treatment of Post-COVID/Long-COVID is scarce. Physical activity has been established as a treatment option for chronic diseases that have similar symptomatic manifestations to those of Post-COVID/Long-COVID. For example, exercise therapy has shown positive effects on the health status of patients with lung disease, depression, anxiety, insomnia and cognitive impairment. However, there has been controversy whether so-called Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) is a safe treatment strategy for patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). This population may experience Post Exertional Malaise (PEM), a worsening of symptoms after physical, cognitive or emotional exertion. Since COVID-19 might be an infectious trigger for CFS, particular caution has to be taken when recruiting participants and when screening them for adverse events and worsening of symptoms during an exercise intervention.

It can be hypothesized that patients suffering from Post-COVID/Long-COVID can benefit from exercise in various ways, guaranteed that there is sufficient screening for PEM before and during the intervention and training volume and intensity are increased slowly and progressively.

The current study investigates the effects of two different training modalities, endurance training and a combination of endurance training and resistance training, on various parameters in people affected by Post-COVID/Long-COVID.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-01-21
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-01-21
• Study First Posted: 2022-01-24
• Study Start: 2022-02-10
• Primary Completion: 2023-05-31
• Study Completion: 2023-05-31
• Status Verified: 2023-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-07-18
• Last Update Posted: 2023-07-19

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 66

Inclusion Criteria

• laboratory-confirmed infection with SARS-CoV-2 via PCR a minimum of 12 weeks ago
• presence of at least one or more of persistent symptoms that can be attributed to Post-COVID/Long-COVID or a manifestation of reduced physical performance capacity since the infection with SARS-CoV-2

Exclusion Criteria

• previous or current hospitalization due to the COVID-19 disease
• regular engagement in endurance or strength training (more than once per week) in the six months prior to enrollment
• contraindications for physical endurance and resistance exercise according to the guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
• clinical diagnosis of depression
• clinical diagnosis of anxiety
• clinical diagnosis of a sleep disorder
• clinical diagnosis of a cognitive deficit disorder
• a grade of 3 or higher on the Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale (PCFS)
• presence of post exertional malaise (PEM)

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Post-COVID/Long-COVID endurance training group	endurance training	Participants affected by Post-COVID/Long-COVID that carry out a 12-week thrice weekly endurance training intervention
Post-COVID/Long-COVID concurrent training group	concurrent training	Participants affected by Post-COVID/Long-COVID that carry out a 12-week thrice weekly concurrent training intervention

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change of peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak measured in ml/min/kg)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	VO2peak will be assessed during cardio pulmonary exercise testing (CPET) on a bicycle ergometer.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change of Standard Deviation of RR-Intervals (SDNN measured in ms)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	SDNN will be assessed via a short-term heart rate variability (HRV) measurement (BioSign).
Change of Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD measured in ms)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	RMSSD will be assessed via a respiratory sinus arrythmia measurement (BioSign).
Change of step count per day	daily for 12 weeks starting with the first day of the intervention period	Step count will be assessed daily during the 12-week intervention period using a wearable device (Polar Unite)
Change of high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP measured in mg/l)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	hs-CRP will be assessed via blood sample.
Change of maximum lower body isometric muscle strength (measured in N)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	Maximum lower body isometric muscle strength will be assessed via a leg press with integrated isometric force measurement (Compass 530, Suessmed GmbH).
Change of health-related quality of life (HQoL) assessed via the SF-36 1.0	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	The SF-36 1.0 is self-administered questionnaire and will be scored according to RAND (numeric value of 0-100). A high score represents a more favorable health status.
Change of absolute body fat (BF measured in kg)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	BF will be assessed via a bioelectrical impedance analysis (seca BCA01A).
Change of mean time "correct rejection" (CR, speed during concentrated working measured in s)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	CR will be assessed via Cognitrone (Schuhfried GmbH), which is a carefully administered computer test. Participants will be given the task of comparing a series of geometric figures.
Change of dyspnoea assessed via the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	The mMRC dyspnoea scale measures perceived breathlessness and classifies subjects into dyspnoea grades from 0-4.
Change of absolute lean body mass (LBM measured in kg)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	LBM will be assessed via a bioelectrical impedance analysis (seca BCA01A).
Change of interleukin-6 (IL-6 measured in pg/ml)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	IL-6 will be assessed via blood sample.
Change of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α measured in pg/ml)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	TNF-α will be assessed via blood sample.
Change of the number of present Post-COVID/Long-COVID specific symptoms	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	The number of Post-COVID/Long-COVID specific symptoms will be assessed using a list of symptoms provided by the National Institute for Health Care and Excellence (NICE). Each item will be referenced to as existent (yes) or non-existent (no) during the last 7 days.
Change of fatigue assessed via the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	The FSS is a 9-item self-report questionnaire using a 1-7 Likert-scale
Change of maximum hand grip strength (measured in kg)	Baseline - 6 weeks - 12 weeks	Maximum hand grip strength will be assessed via a hand grip dynamometer (Saehan SH5001).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Sport Science, University of Vienna; 🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria