The present study aims to assess the impact of exercise training, physical activity, and sedentary lifestyle on clinical outcomes in surviving patients infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therefore, this study will evaluate cross-sectionally and through a questionnaire in Portuguese and English on the internet, whether physically active patients have better outcomes for the disease such as shorter hospital stay, lesser symptoms, lesser need for mechanical ventilation, and medications.
The new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the
2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, initially discovered in the city of Wuhan, China,
at the end of December 2019. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
SARS-CoV-2 as a worldwide pandemic. The disease quickly spread to several continents, also
reaching Brazil strongly. This pandemic claimed (and still does) several victims, affecting
more than 3 million confirmed cases worldwide with more than 200,000 deaths (official data:
coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html). In Brazil alone, by the time of writing this research project,
60,311 cases have been confirmed with 4,117 deaths. Epidemiological studies show that these
numbers can be even higher, reaching up to eight times the number of cases.
As a new virus with such lethality and without the knowledge of its pathophysiology, WHO and
the governments of each country have adopted isolation and social distance as a preventive
measure to contain the spread of the virus, especially among the most vulnerable people such
as the elderly, obese, diabetics and patients with cardiovascular diseases. So far, there is
no effective and scientifically proven treatment for the disease, nor a vaccine for its
effective control. In this sense, preventive measures such as personal hygiene, good
nutrition and physical exercise seem to be the best forms of prevention. However, it is not
known whether these measures can prevent contagion or whether they help the recovery of
patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. It is well known that exercise training improves the
response of the immune system providing protection against infections caused by intracellular
microorganisms, thus being an important prevention strategy against SARS-CoV-2.
The present study aims to assess the impact of exercise training, physical activity, and
sedentary lifestyle on clinical outcomes in surviving patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2
virus. Therefore, this study will evaluate cross-sectionally and through a questionnaire in
Portuguese and English on the internet, whether physically active patients have better
outcomes for the disease such as shorter hospital stay, lesser symptoms, lesser need for
mechanical ventilation and medications.
Other: Electronic questionnaire
Clinical, anthropometric, and sociodemographic variables to characterize the sample will be collected using the Google Form. The same tool will be used to collect clinical variables (outcomes), as well as to obtain data on the level of physical activity and sedentary behavior time (predictor variables) prior to SARS-CoV-2 contamination. For this, we will use the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ).
Inclusion Criteria:
- Men and women recovered and survivors of the disease
- With or without symptoms
- Patients with disease confirmation by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction
(RT-PCR) test, blood test (serology), and a rapid antibody test
- With or without the need for hospitalization (nursery, semi-intensive and intensive
unit)
- With or without the need for drug treatment
- Presence of any chronic disease such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery
disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cancer, among others
- Literate patients in Portuguese and/or English.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Illiterate patients with difficulties in filling out the electronic form
- Patients still hospitalized and/or with symptoms of COVID-19
Marcelo Rodrigues dos Santos
São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Marcelo R Santos, PhD, Principal Investigator
University of Sao Paulo Medical School