Objective: To observe the effect of early rehabilitation exercise on blood pressure of elderly patients with septic shock.
Methods: A single-center, prospective, randomized controlled study was conducted in elderly patients with septic shock who were hospitalized in the department of critical care medicine of Huangshan Shoukang Hospital (High-tech Zone Central Hospital of Huangshan) from December 2018 to November 2020. According to the principle of simple random, all patients were divided into control group and intervention group. Both groups were treated with lower limb barometry to prevent deep vein thrombosis, 3 times a day, 30 minutes each time. After comprehensive treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU), the severity of patients was gradually improved, the hemodynamics was relatively stable, and the norepinephrine was reduced to 0.5 μg×kg-1×min-1. The control group continued to receive lower limb barometric treatment without rehabilitation training, while the intervention group began rehabilitation training when the dose of norepinephrine was reduced to 0.5 μg×kg-1×min-1. The duration of norepinephrine use, the length of ICU stay, and the occurrence of adverse events during rehabilitation training in intervention group was recorded.
Results: Seventy-two patients were included in the final analysis, 35 in intervention group and 37 in control group. There was no significant difference in gender, age, Oxford acute severity of illness score (OASIS), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 3 times and underlying diseases between two groups. Compared with control group, the length of ICU stay and duration of dose of norepinephrine ≤ 0.5 μg×kg-1×min-1 in intervention group were significantly shorter [length of ICU stay (hours): 193.0 (145.5, 312.0) vs. 242.5 (180.0, 483.5), P < 0.05; duration of dose of norepinephrine ≤ 0.5 μg×kg-1×min-1 (hours): 120.0 (72.0, 144.0) vs. 144.5 (120.0, 192.0), Z = 2.976, P = 0.003]. In intervention group, 35 patients did not show acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, syncope, central venous catheter detachment, and gastric tube detachment during the rehabilitation period, except 1 patient suffered from naked hematuria due to urinary catheter traction, which disappeared the next day after symptomatic treatment.
Conclusions: The early rehabilitation exercise was beneficial to the recovery of autonomic blood pressure in elderly patients with septic shock, shorten the time of norepinephrine use and ICU stay.