Rehabilitation Required Due to Functional Neurological Impairment and Respiratory Disorders After Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection in ICU Units

Due to the emergence of an epidemic cluster in Mulhouse, a city located 100 km south of Strasbourg, Alsace was one of the first French regions to be affected by the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19). As a result, all hospitals in the region, including both Strasbourg University Hospitals, had to deal with the epidemic wave earlier and more intensely than the rest of France. At the time of writing this article, 6 weeks after the start of the epidemic, we have counted 998 hospital deaths in our region, i.e., an intrahospital mortality rate linked to COVID-19 of 5.3 deaths per 10,000 inhabitants (https://dashboard.covid19.data.gouv.fr/).

Currently, our intensive care unit still has a large number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Some of these patients have severe damage to one or more organs, and in particular a neurological or respiratory deficit suggesting that they will need post-resuscitation rehabilitation. The primary aim is to assess the neurological disorder after severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and the second is the respiratory impairment evaluation.