- Published
- 09 July 2021
- Journal article
Clinical characteristics, exercise capacity and pulmonary function in post-COVID-19 competitive athletes
- Authors
- Source
- Journal of Clinical Medicine
Full text
Abstract
Background: Limited evidence exists regarding adverse modifications affecting cardiovascular and pulmonary function in physical active adults affected by COVID-19, especially in athletic populations. We aimed to describe the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in a cohort of competitive athletes, as well as spirometry and echocardiography findings and cardio-respiratory performance during exercise.
Methods: Twenty-four competitive athletes with COVID-19 were recruited for this study after ending self-isolation and confirmation of negative laboratory results. All athletes underwent clinical evaluation, spirometry, echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). These data were compared to a group of healthy control athletes.
Results: Anosmia was the most frequent symptom present in 70.83% patients, followed by myalgia, fatigue and ageusia. The most frequent persisting symptoms were anosmia 11 (45.83%) and ageusia 8 (33.33%). Compared to controls, COVID-19 patients presented lower FEV1%: 97.5 (91.5–108) vs. 109 (106–116) p = 0.007. Peak Oxygen Uptake (VO2) in COVID-19 patients was 50.1 (47.7–51.65) vs. 49 (44.2–52.6) in controls (p = 0.618).
Conclusions: Reduced exercise capacity was not identified and pulmonary and cardiovascular function are not impaired during early recovery phase in a population of physical active adults except FEV1 reduction.
Rights
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Cite as
Komici, K., Bianco, A., Perrotta, F., Dello Iacono, A., Bencivenga, L., D'Agnano , V., Rocca, A., Bianco, A., Rengo, G. & Guerra, G. 2021, 'Clinical characteristics, exercise capacity and pulmonary function in post-COVID-19 competitive athletes', Journal of Clinical Medicine, 10(14), article no: 3053. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10143053