Using the ClinFIT COVID-19 Instrument to Assess the Functional Impairments Specific to Post-COVID-19 Patients in Romania.

Publication date: Jul 17, 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to approximately 3. 5 million cases in Romania, causing systemic inflammation and over 200 symptoms affecting various body systems. This complexity has challenged rehabilitation systems, necessitating personalized plans tailored to each patient’s illness stage and impairment level. The ISPRM-developed ClinFIT COVID-19 instrument, aligned with the ICF categories, assists in assessing patients during acute, post-acute, and long-term phases. This study aimed to evaluate and assess functional impairments in post-COVID-19 patients in Romania, with a secondary goal of generating rehabilitation directions. Data were collected from patients at two Bucharest medical centers, including those with persistent symptoms post-acute phase. Participants were assessed using the adapted ClinFIT COVID-19 instrument, and descriptive statistics were applied. Findings revealed diverse functional impairments in physical, psychological, and social domains among post-COVID-19 patients, with severe impairments more common in those with long-term COVID-19. Complete impairment in complex movement and paid work was noted, affecting one-third of salaried employees and forcing some to retire. In the acute phase, the most frequent functional impairments were sleep, attention, pain sensation, and exercise tolerance functions. In contrast, the most severely affected functions were exercise tolerance and mobility joint functions. Age did not positively correlate with any of the analyzed functions. In the post-acute phase, sleep, energy, and drive functions remained the most frequently affected functions, while the most severely affected was, by far, the moving around function. In the post-acute period, respiratory and respiratory muscle functions strongly correlated with all tasks related to physical activity. In the long COVID-19 phase, remunerative employment was the most severely affected function, while attention functions remained the most frequently affected, similar to the acute phase. The ClinFIT COVID-19 instrument effectively captured these impairments, underscoring the need for comprehensive rehabilitation strategies.

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Concepts Keywords
Basel ClinFIT COVID-19
Employees functional domains
Pandemic ICF
Romania post COVID-19 rehabilitation
Sleep post COVID-19 sequelae

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH COVID-19
disease MESH inflammation
disease VO age
disease MESH long COVID
disease MESH Emergency
disease MESH Infectious Diseases
drug DRUGBANK Coenzyme M
disease MESH sequelae
disease VO organization
disease MESH infection
disease MESH syndrome
drug DRUGBANK Methionine
disease MESH cerebrovascular diseases
disease MESH diabetes mellitus
disease MESH myalgic encephalomyelitis
disease MESH postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
disease MESH Functional Independence

Original Article

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