Post-COVID-19 patients in geriatric rehabilitation substantially recover in daily functioning and quality of life.

RESEARCH funding; POST-acute COVID-19 syndrome; FRAIL elderly; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; FUNCTIONAL status; GERIATRIC rehabilitation; LONGITUDINAL method; QUALITY of life; CONVALESCENCE; GERIATRIC assessment; RESEARCH; BARTHEL Index; ACTIVITIES of daily living; OLD age

Background After an acute infection, older persons may benefit from geriatric rehabilitation (GR). Objectives This study describes the recovery trajectories of post-COVID-19 patients undergoing GR and explores whether frailty is associated with recovery. Design Multicentre prospective cohort study. Setting 59 GR facilities in 10 European countries. Participants Post-COVID-19 patients admitted to GR between October 2020 and October 2021. Methods Patients' characteristics, daily functioning (Barthel index; BI), quality of life (QoL; EQ-5D-5L) and frailty (Clinical Frailty Scale; CFS) were collected at admission, discharge, 6 weeks and 6 months after discharge. We used linear mixed models to examine the trajectories of daily functioning and QoL. Results 723 participants were included with a mean age of 75 (SD: 9.91) years. Most participants were pre-frail to frail (median [interquartile range] CFS 6.0 [5.0–7.0]) at admission. After admission, the BI first steeply increased from 11.31 with 2.51 (SE 0.15, P  < 0.001) points per month and stabilised around 17.0 (quadratic slope: −0.26, SE 0.02, P  < 0.001). Similarly, EQ-5D-5L first steeply increased from 0.569 with 0.126 points per month (SE 0.008, P  < 0.001) and stabilised around 0.8 (quadratic slope: −0.014, SE 0.001, P  < 0.001). Functional recovery rates were independent of frailty level at admission. QoL was lower at admission for frailer participants, but increased faster, stabilising at almost equal QoL values for frail, pre-frail and fit patients. Conclusions Post-COVID-19 patients admitted to GR showed substantial recovery in daily functioning and QoL. Frailty at GR admission was not associated with recovery and should not be a reason to exclude patients from GR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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