Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Rehabilitation, COVID-19, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Coronavirus, Physical and rehabilitation medicine, Humans, Pandemics, Quarantine, SARS-CoV-2, International Multiprofessional Steering Committee of Cochrane Rehabilitation REH-COVER action, 4201 Allied health and rehabilitation science, 4203 Health services and systems

Abstract:

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak response requires identifying and understanding the longterm consequences of this new pathology, and how to manage these. This living systematic review presents the most current and seminal information coming from the scientific literature. It is the monthly update of the second edition of the rapid living systematic review 2020 conducted by Cochrane Rehabilitation REH-COVER Action Steering Committee. Objective: The aim of this review is to update the monthly COVID-19 and rehabilitation literature research up to September 30th, 2020. Methods: Methodology described in the second edition of the rapid living systematic review 2020 conducted by Cochrane Rehabilitation REH-COVER Action was applied. The most important medical databases were searched, and papers related to COVID19 and rehabilitation were retrieved and summarized descriptively. Results: The database search retrieved 2526 publications. Duplicates were removed, and 1150 unique records were screened for inclusion. After screening titles, abstracts and full-texts, 37 papers were included in the present review. According to OCEBM 2011 Levels of Evidence Table, most studies (78.4%) fall within the level of evidence 4 category, while the remainder (22.6%) are categorized as level of evidence 3. Most studies described patients in acute (51.4%) or subacute (35.0%) phase, while no studies described the chronic consequences of COVID-19. Just one study dealt with rehabilitation interventions regarding COVID-19, and two discussed reorganization of rehabilitative services. Conclusions: The most recently published COVID-19 research focuses more on describing the clinical presentations and the natural history of the pathology, rather than rehabilitation interventions or service delivery. Studies with high levels of evidence regarding the efficacy of interventions, longterm monitoring, or new organization models remain lacking.