Estebanez-Pérez María-José, Martín-Valero Rocío, Vinolo-Gil Maria Jesus, Pastora-Bernal José-Manuel
Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Science, University of Malaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain.
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Cadiz, 11009 Cadiz, Spain.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Jul 7;11(13):1970. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11131970.
Long COVID syndrome has been recognized as a public health problem. Digital physiotherapy practice is an alternative that can better meet the needs of patients. The aim of this review was to synthesize the evidence of digital physiotherapy practice in Long COVID patients. A systematic review was carried out until December 2022. The review was complemented by an assessment of the risk of bias and methodological quality. A narrative synthesis of results was conducted, including subgroup analyses by intervention and clinical outcomes. Six articles, including 540 participants, were selected. Five articles were considered of high enough methodological quality. Parallel-group, single-blind, randomized controlled trials were the most commonly used research design. Tele-supervised home-based exercise training was the most commonly used intervention. Great heterogeneity in clinical outcomes and measurement tools was found. A subgroup analysis showed that digital physiotherapy is effective in improving clinical outcomes. Significant differences in favor of digital interventions over usual care were reported. Nevertheless, discrepancies regarding effectiveness were found. Improvements in clinical outcomes with digital physiotherapy were found to be at least non-inferior to usual care. This review provides new evidence that digital physiotherapy practice is an appropriate intervention for Long COVID patients, despite the inherent limitations of the review. Registration: CRD42022379004.
长新冠综合征已被视为一个公共卫生问题。数字物理治疗实践是一种能够更好满足患者需求的替代方案。本综述的目的是综合长新冠患者数字物理治疗实践的证据。截至2022年12月进行了一项系统综述。该综述通过对偏倚风险和方法学质量的评估得到补充。对结果进行了叙述性综合分析，包括按干预措施和临床结局进行亚组分析。共纳入6篇文章，涉及540名参与者。5篇文章被认为方法学质量足够高。平行组、单盲随机对照试验是最常用的研究设计。远程监督的居家运动训练是最常用的干预措施。发现临床结局和测量工具存在很大异质性。亚组分析表明，数字物理治疗在改善临床结局方面是有效的。报告显示数字干预相对于常规护理有显著差异。然而，在有效性方面仍存在差异。发现数字物理治疗在临床结局方面的改善至少不劣于常规护理。本综述提供了新的证据，表明尽管本综述存在固有局限性，但数字物理治疗实践对长新冠患者是一种合适的干预措施。注册号：CRD42022379004。
