Improvements of depression, anxiety, stress, and social support through a telerehabilitation system in discharged COVID-19 patients: a randomized controlled pilot study.

INTRODUCTION

Post-acute COVID-19 patients who were discharged from hospitals during the epidemic faced significant challenges, not only physical sequelae, but also psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. It is already known that continued exercise improves psychosocial components, but few studies have explored the impact of multimodal rehabilitation programs, including therapeutic education, in this type of patient. There are no studies that explore the application of these programs through asynchronous telerehabilitation, which would open up new therapeutic windows.

METHODS

This pilot single-blinded randomized controlled trial included 35 post-discharge COVID-19 patients allocated to two intervention arms: an asynchronous telerehabilitation group (ATG) and a booklet-based rehabilitation group (BRG). The aim was to analyze the preliminary changes in depression, anxiety, stress, and social support comparing both groups.

RESULTS

The ATG exhibited statistically significant reductions in depression ( = 0.048) and stress ( = 0.033) compared to the BRG after intervention. While both groups showed improvements in psychosocial variables, the ATG demonstrated consistent lower depression levels at 3- and 6-month follow-ups ( = 0.010,  = 0.036 respectively) and notably higher social support at 3- and 6-month follow-ups ( = 0.038,  = 0.028 respectively).

DISCUSSION

This pilot study suggests that a multimodal rehabilitation program using asynchronous telerehabilitation provides substantial benefits in terms of alleviating psychological distress and improving social support in discharged COVID-19 patients. These data will enable for larger studies to confirm these results.