Breathing Back Better! A State of the Art on the Benefits of Functional Evaluation and Rehabilitation of Post-Tuberculosis and Post-COVID Lungs

Emanuele Pontali; Denise Rossato Silva; Florian M Marx; Jose Antonio Caminero; Rosella Centis; Lia D'Ambrosio; Jose Maria Garcia-Garcia; Jeremiah Chakaya Muhwa; Simon Tiberi; Giovanni Battista Migliori

doi:10.1016/j.arbres.2022.05.010

Breathing Back Better! A State of the Art on the Benefits of Functional Evaluation and Rehabilitation of Post-Tuberculosis and Post-COVID Lungs

Arch Bronconeumol. 2022 Nov;58(11):754-763. doi: 10.1016/j.arbres.2022.05.010. Epub 2022 Jun 10.

[Article in English, Spanish]

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Galliera Hospital, Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: pontals@yahoo.com.
² Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
³ DSI-NRF South African Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Pneumology, University General Hospital of Gran Canaria "Dr. Negrin", Las Palmas GC, Spain; ALOSA (Active Learning over Sanitary Aspects) TB Academy, Spain.
⁵ Servizio di Epidemiologia Clinica delle Malattie Respiratorie, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Tradate, Italy. Electronic address: rosella.centis@icsmaugeri.it.
⁶ Public Health Consulting Group, Lugano, Switzerland.
⁷ Tuberculosis Research Programme, SEPAR (Spanish Respiratory Society), Barcelona, Spain.
⁸ Department of Medicine, Therapeutics and Dermatology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya; Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
⁹ Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Division of Infection, Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Currently, tuberculosis (TB) and COVID-19 account for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide, not only during their acute phase, but also because of their sequelae. This scoping review aims to describe the specific aspects of post-TB and post-COVID (long-COVID-19) sequelae, and the implications for post-disease follow-up and rehabilitation. In particular, evidence on how to identify patients affected by sequelae is presented and discussed. A section of the review is dedicated to identifying patients eligible for pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), as not all patients with sequelae are eligible for PR. Components of PR are presented and discussed, as well as their effectiveness. Other essential components to implement comprehensive rehabilitation programmes such as counselling and health education of enrolled patients, evaluation of cost-effectiveness of PR and its impact on health systems as well as research priorities for the future are included in this scoping review.

Keywords: COVID-19; Post-COVID-19; Post-TB; Rehabilitation; TB sequelae; Tuberculosis.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Humans
Lung
Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
Tuberculosis*