Functional outcomes of COVID-19 patients who underwent acute inpatient rehabilitation and the exploration of the benefits of adjunct robotic therapy and the effects of frailty

OBJECTIVE: To describe the functional outcomes of post COVID-19 patients after inpatient rehabilitation and determine if patients who underwent adjunct daily robotic therapy with Andago had better functional outcomes than those who did not and if patients who were frail had worse functional outcomes than those who were pre-frail or not frail. DESIGN: Retrospective study of COVID-19 patients transferred for acute inpatient rehabilitation from 1 November 2021 to 31 December 2021. RESULTS: Post COVID-19 patients who underwent inpatient rehabilitation had an improvement in the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) (median 109 vs 82), Functional Ambulation Category(FAC) (median 3 vs 2), distance walked with physiotherapist (mean 143.5 vs 18.7 m), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale(HADS) (mean 4.5 vs 7.8) from baseline. Robotic therapy may be associated with a shorter rehabilitation medicine length of stay (median 13 vs 19.5 days) and a higher FIM efficiency (mean 2.3 vs 1.2). Patients with a higher frailty score may have a slower 10 Meter Walk Test (10MWT) speed at discharge (Spearman’s rho −0.542). CONCLUSION: Post COVID-19 patients benefit from inpatient rehabilitation with a comprehensive rehabilitation program, and adjunct robotic therapy may be offered to further improve functional outcomes. Frailty may also be considered when establishing rehabilitation goals, as meaningful functional gains can still be achieved.