Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Dec 15;23(1):865.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-04544-3.

Effect of different types of supervised exercise programs on cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, pain, fatigue, mental health and inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in older patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae "EJerSA-COVID-19": a randomized controlled trial

Eulogio Pleguezuelos  1   2 , Sergio Sánchez-Nuño  3 , Amin Del Carmen  1 , Noemí Serra-Payá  3 , Eva Moreno  4 , Lorena Molina-Raya  3 , Gemma Robleda  3 , Marta Benet  3 , Susana Santos-Ruiz  3 , Ainoa Biurrun Garrido  3 , Carmen Jerez-Molina  3 , Marc Miravitlles  5 , Mateu Serra-Prat  6 , Xavier Viñals  3 , Montserrat Girabent Farrés  3 , Teresa Carbonell  7 , Manuel V Garnacho-Castaño  8   9
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effect of different types of supervised exercise programs on cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, pain, fatigue, mental health and inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in older patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae "EJerSA-COVID-19": a randomized controlled trial

Eulogio Pleguezuelos et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Many patients with COVID-19 present the so-called post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 such as fatigue, post-stress discomfort, dyspnea, headache, pain mental impairment, incapacity to perform daily physical tasks ant exercise intolerance. This study aims to investigate the effects of different exercise programs on physical and mental fitness, physical condition and biomarkers of the immune system and oxidative stress in older patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae.

Methods: The sample will be made up of 120 eligible participants, over the age of 60 years who have had COVID-19 disease and are survivors and present persistent COVID-19 symptomatology diagnosed by the corresponding physician. The participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental groups: supervised endurance group (SEG, n = 30), supervised strength group (SSG, n = 30), supervised concurrent group (SCG, n = 30), which will perform the corresponding exercise program 3 days a week compared to the control group (CG, n = 30), which will not carry out a supervised exercise program. The design of this project will include measurements of four relevant dimensions; 1) Cardiorespiratory fitness; 2) Muscle fitness; 3) Pain and mental health; and 4) Biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress.

Conclusions: The results of this study will provide insights into the effects of different exercise programs on physical and mental fitness, physical condition and biomarkers of the immune system and oxidative stress in older patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae. These findings may be the basis for the formulation of health plans and rehabilitation programs that allow healthy aging and a reduction in the associated morbidity in patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae.

Trial registration: NCT05848518. Registered on May 8, 2023.

Keywords: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing; Endurance exercise; Muscle strength assessment; Older people; Quality of life; Rehabilitation programs; Resistance exercise; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study design. Abbreviations: CG = unsupervised control group; EG = experimental group; RANDO = randomization; SCG = supervised concurrent group; SEG = supervised endurance group; SEG = supervised strength group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497–506. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chapple L-AS, Tatucu-Babet OA, Lambell KJ, Fetterplace K, Ridley EJ. Nutrition guidelines for critically ill adults admitted with COVID-19: Is there consensus? Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2021;44:69–77. doi: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2021.05.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Karagiannidis C, Mostert C, Hentschker C, Voshaar T, Malzahn J, Schillinger G, et al. Case characteristics, resource use, and outcomes of 10 021 patients with COVID-19 admitted to 920 German hospitals: an observational study. Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8(9):853–862. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30316-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baig AM. Deleterious outcomes in long-hauler COVID-19: the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the CNS in chronic COVID syndrome. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2020;11(24):4017–4020. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00725. - DOI - PubMed
    1. van den Borst B, Peters JB, Brink M, Schoon Y, Bleeker-Rovers CP, Schers H, et al. Comprehensive health assessment 3 months after recovery from acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Clin Infect Dis an Off Publ Infect Dis Soc Am. 2021;73(5):e1089–e1098. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1750. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data