Pan-European Study on Outcome and Service in Geriatric Rehabilitation in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic

INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world hard, and older and vulnerable persons are more likely to get very ill when infected, and have the highest morbidity and mortality. The majority of patients that are admitted to the hospital are older (>70 years), and some of them have been, or are being, admitted to Intensive Care Units. Many patients stay on the ICU/hospital for weeks. To get back to the highest state of functional independence, these patients will need specialised care and treatment, therefore geriatric rehabilitation will be very likely required.

Geriatric Rehabilitation (GR) is defined as a multidimensional approach of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, the purpose of which is to optimise functional capacity, promote activity and preserve functional reserve and social participation "in older people with disabling impairments." The goal of geriatric rehabilitation has been defined as "to assist [older people] to manage personal activities of daily living without the assistance of another person. If this is not possible, the goal is to minimize the need for external assistance through the use of adaptive techniques and equipment." Thereby focussing on the amelioration of dependency in activities of daily living. However, we are still in the dark about the amount of functional recovery of geriatric post-COVID-19 patients. We do know from the first lessons from Italy, that the rehabilitation process is difficult, and the course is capricious.

Before being able to assure the best outcomes for older post-COVID geriatric rehabilitation patients, we first have to be informed about what the clinical characteristics are, what treatment is provided, and what outcomes geriatric post-COVID-19 patients have in geriatric rehabilitation. Therefore, members of the Special Interest Group Geriatric Rehabilitation of the European Geriatric Medical Society (EuGMS) decided to conduct this multi-center observational cohort study into usual care data on the course of functional and clinical outcomes in post-COVID-19 geriatric rehabilitation patients in several European countries.

OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this study to get insight into the course of functional and medical recovery in (geriatric) rehabilitation patients affected by COVID-19 in Europe. The secondary objective is to get insight into the treatment modalities employed and the organisation of geriatric rehabilitation that post-COVID patients in Europe receive.

The study was conducted according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 version) and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in full conformity to any applicable state or local regulations in the participating countries.