The safety and effectiveness of rehabilitation exercises on COVID-19 patients: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading fast starting late 2019. It mainly affects the human respiratory system. Many reports revealed that rehabilitation exercise can improve respiratory function and relieve the pressure from diseases, but there is no evidence to prove its effects on COVID-19. This protocol of systematic review and meta-analysis will clarify the safety and effectiveness of rehabilitation exercises on different COVID-19 patients. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Related studies will be retrieved from Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, Wan fang Database, ClinicalTrials, WHO Trials, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. Pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria will be used by two researchers independently for extracting data from literatures. Clinical recovery time and effective rates will be assessed as the primary outcomes. Changes of patient's condition, pulmonary function, respiratory function and activity of daily living will be assessed as the secondary outcomes. Fixed effect model will be used for evaluating efficiency. Considering clinical heterogeneity, random effect model will be used for continuous outcomes. Funnel charts, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis will be used to explore sources of heterogeneity. Endnote X9.3 will be used to manage data screening. The statistical analysis will be completed by RevMan5.2 and Stata/SE 15.1 software. RESULT: This study will assess effects and safety for practicing rehabilitation exercises on COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of this study will provide evidence to prove the safety and effectiveness of rehabilitation exercises on COVID-19 patients.