EXercise TRAining and Sedentary Lifestyle on Clinical Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19 (WHO)

University of Sao Paulo General Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: COVID-19; SARS-CoV 2; Corona Virus Infection; Sedentary Behavior

Treatments: Other: Electronic questionnaire

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04396353

COVID-19

Details and patient eligibility

About

The present study aims to assess the impact of exercise training, physical activity, and sedentary lifestyle on clinical outcomes in surviving patients infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therefore, this study will evaluate cross-sectionally and through a questionnaire in Portuguese and English on the internet, whether physically active patients have better outcomes for the disease such as shorter hospital stay, lesser symptoms, lesser need for mechanical ventilation, and medications.

Full description

The new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, initially discovered in the city of Wuhan, China, at the end of December 2019. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared SARS-CoV-2 as a worldwide pandemic. The disease quickly spread to several continents, also reaching Brazil strongly. This pandemic claimed (and still does) several victims, affecting more than 3 million confirmed cases worldwide with more than 200,000 deaths (official data: coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html). In Brazil alone, by the time of writing this research project, 60,311 cases have been confirmed with 4,117 deaths. Epidemiological studies show that these numbers can be even higher, reaching up to eight times the number of cases.

As a new virus with such lethality and without the knowledge of its pathophysiology, WHO and the governments of each country have adopted isolation and social distance as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the virus, especially among the most vulnerable people such as the elderly, obese, diabetics and patients with cardiovascular diseases. So far, there is no effective and scientifically proven treatment for the disease, nor a vaccine for its effective control. In this sense, preventive measures such as personal hygiene, good nutrition and physical exercise seem to be the best forms of prevention. However, it is not known whether these measures can prevent contagion or whether they help the recovery of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. It is well known that exercise training improves the response of the immune system providing protection against infections caused by intracellular microorganisms, thus being an important prevention strategy against SARS-CoV-2.

The present study aims to assess the impact of exercise training, physical activity, and sedentary lifestyle on clinical outcomes in surviving patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Therefore, this study will evaluate cross-sectionally and through a questionnaire in Portuguese and English on the internet, whether physically active patients have better outcomes for the disease such as shorter hospital stay, lesser symptoms, lesser need for mechanical ventilation and medications.

Enrollment: 1,574 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Men and women recovered and survivors of the disease
• With or without symptoms
• Patients with disease confirmation by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, blood test (serology), and a rapid antibody test
• With or without the need for hospitalization (nursery, semi-intensive and intensive unit)
• With or without the need for drug treatment
• Presence of any chronic disease such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cancer, among others
• Literate patients in Portuguese and/or English.

Exclusion criteria

• Illiterate patients with difficulties in filling out the electronic form
• Patients still hospitalized and/or with symptoms of COVID-19

Trial design

1,574 participants in 2 patient groups

Physically active

Description:

Those who receive regular amounts of physical activity. Those who participate in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of a more vigorous regimen as recommended by the health organizations. Additionally, a person who spend less time sitting (i.e. watching television, surfing the web, playing video games).

Treatment:

Other: Electronic questionnaire

Sedentary

Description:

Those who do not receive regular amounts of physical activity. Where physical inactivity is considered the failure to meet the recommendations of the health organizations, stating that an individual should participate in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of a more vigorous regimen. Sitting about 70-85% of the time (i.e. watching television, surfing the web, playing video games) is also considered a person living a sedentary lifestyle.

Treatment:

Other: Electronic questionnaire