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Review
. 2022 Jul 22:9:924819.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.924819. eCollection 2022.

Exercise Intolerance in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 and the Value of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing- a Mini-Review

Álvaro Aparisi  1   2 , Raquel Ladrón  3 , Cristina Ybarra-Falcón  4 , Javier Tobar  4   5 , J Alberto San Román  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Exercise Intolerance in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 and the Value of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing- a Mini-Review

Álvaro Aparisi et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with systemic organ damage in the most severe forms. Long-term complications of SARS-CoV-2 appear to be restricted to severe presentations of COVID-19, but many patients with persistent symptoms have never been hospitalized. Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) represents a heterogeneous group of symptoms characterized by cardiovascular, general, respiratory, and neuropsychiatric sequelae. The pace of evidence acquisition with PASC has been rapid, but the mechanisms behind it are complex and not yet fully understood. In particular, exercise intolerance shares some features with other classic respiratory and cardiac disorders. However, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides a comprehensive assessment and can unmask the pathophysiological mechanism behind exercise intolerance in gray-zone PASC. This mini-review explores the utility of CPET and aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of PASC by summarizing the current evidence.

Keywords: autonomic dysfunction; cardiopulmonary exercise testing; exercise intolerance; hyperventilation; post-acute sequelae COVID-19.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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