Mild-to-moderate COVID-19 impact on the cardiorespiratory fitness in young and middle-aged populations

The goal of the present study was to compare pulmonary function test (PFT) and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) performance in COVID-19 survivors with a control group (CG). This was a cross-sectional study. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19, without severe signs and symptoms, were evaluated one month after the infection. Healthy volunteers matched for sex and age constituted the control group. All volunteers underwent the following assessments: i) clinical evaluation, ii) PTF; and iii) CPET on a cycle ergometer. Metabolic variables were measured by the CareFusion Oxycon Mobile device. In addition, heart rate responses, peak systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and perceived exertion were recorded. Twenty-nine patients with COVID-19 and 18 healthy control subjects were evaluated. Surviving patients of COVID-19 had a mean age of 40 years and had higher body mass index and persistent symptoms compared to the CG (P<0.05), but patients with COVID-19 had more comorbidities, number of medications, and greater impairment of lung function (P<0.05). Regarding CPET, patients surviving COVID-19 had reduced peak workload, oxygen uptake (V̇O₂), carbon dioxide output (V̇CO₂), circulatory power (CP), and end-tidal pressure for carbon dioxide (P_ETCO₂) (P<0.05). Additionally, survivors had depressed chronotropic and ventilatory responses, low peak oxygen saturation, and greater muscle fatigue (P<0.05) compared to CG_. Despite not showing signs and symptoms of severe disease during infection, adult survivors had losses of lung function and cardiorespiratory capacity one month after recovery from COVID-19. In addition, cardiovascular, ventilatory, and lower limb fatigue responses were the main exercise limitations.

COVID-19; Survivors; Pulmonary function; Cardiorespiratory fitness; Cardiopulmonary testing