Functional Capacity Of Young Adults After Covid-19 Infection And Immunization: Observational Prospective Study

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: To prospectively analyze functional capacity of young adults in relation to after COVID-19 infection and follow up these individuals after COVID-19 immunization. DESIGN: Observational prospective cohort study (partial results from FIT-COVID Study). After a minimum of 6 weeks from the second shot of COVID-19 vaccine participants were once again recruited to follow up evaluations. SETTING: Evaluations were performed at a public Physical Therapy outpatient clinic in Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: We included male and female participants, aged 20–40 years after mild or moderate clinical COVID-19 with a previous positive PCR test that were not admitted to intensive care unit (COV). Participants were recruited after a minimum of 15 and maximum of 180 days of diagnosis by positive PCR test. An age-matched healthy control group (CT) that was negative for COVID-19 was also recruited. INTERVENTIONS: At baseline and follow up evaluation, functional capacity was assessed using the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and the 30-second stand from chair test (SC). Next, habitual physical activity (HPA) levels were assessed using accelerometry data. Finally, body composition (BC) was assessed using bioelectric impedance. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Meters walked during 6MWT, repetitions during SC. Secondarily, sedentary time in minutes, and body composition (lean mass in kilograms). RESULTS: Evaluations included Control Group (n=39) and Post-COVID-19 group (n=32). At baseline Post-COVID-19 group presented 626.69±100.68 meters and during the follow-up analysis (626.69±100.685 meters) with no significant difference between moments (p=0.698). No significant differences were observed between groups for 6MWT (p=0.698). In SC, there were no differences between moments (p=0.333) or groups (p=0.26). In the Post-COVID-19 group there was a significant reduction in sedentary time over the follow-up period (4070.36±1524.614 vs 3298.82±786.085; p=0.044). However, no differences were observed between groups (p=0.928). Finally, no differences were observed in body composition between groups or moments (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Functional capacity in young adults was not affected Post-COVID-19 infection and no changes were observed following immunization. Similar results, were observed for physical activity levels and body composition. AUTHOR(S) DISCLOSURES: None of the authors have any conflicts of interests.