The Effects of a Multi-factorial Rehabilitation Program for Healthcare Workers Suffering From Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome
Condition: COVID-19
MeSH terms: COVID-19; Fatigue
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The SARS-CoV2 pandemic has kept the world in suspense for over a year now. Almost 100 million
      people around the world have contracted COVID-19 to date and over 2 million people have died
      of COVID-19 by the end of January 2021.

      Despite the tragedy of these deaths, it must be pointed out at this point that the number of
      COVID-19 survivors is significantly larger. These COVID-19 survivors are now the focus of
      interest in rehabilitation measures, as it has been shown that survival of the disease does
      not go hand in hand with a complete cure. Thirty-five percent of all COVID-19 survivors and
      87% of the COVID-19 survivors who were hospitalized in the course of their illness suffer
      from after-effects that are currently summarized as post-COVID fatigue syndrome also known as
      "Long-COVID".

      As health care workers are at higher risk of contracting SARS CoV2 and furthermore,
      considering their central role in the overcoming of this pandemic, a COVID-19 rehabilitation
      program for healthcare workers of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria as well as the
      General Hospital of Vienna, Austria - together the second-largest university-clinic in the
      world - was developed as part of workplace health promotion. Nowadays, the fatigue syndrome
      is primarily known as a side effect of cancer treatment and thus from the rehabilitation of
      cancer patients. Cancer-related fatigue is a massive limiting side effect for patients and
      the currently most effective treatment strategy against cancer-associated fatigue syndrome is
      physical training.

      The idea for this current project is, that physical exercise might have similar effects on
      post-SARS-CoV2 fatigue as it has on cancer-related fatigue.

      The current study evaluates the effects of this primarily exercise-based rehabilitation
      program on Long-COVID fatigue.
    

Detailed description: 
      Employees of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria and the General Hospital of Vienna,
      Austria who survived a SARS-CoV2 infection will be invited to take part in an eight weeks
      post-COVID-19 rehabilitation program which is part of a workplace health promotion measure.
      This program consists of eight weeks of exercising (twice per week supervised resistance
      training + individual, heart-rate controlled endurance training recommendations) with a
      sports scientist and a sports medicine specialist, complemented by one session of nutrition
      consultation with a nutritionist and two sessions of psychological consultation with a
      clinical psychologist.

      Parallel to this workplace health promotion program, the scientific evaluation of this
      intevention will be undertaken via this study.
    

Intervention name(s): Exercise
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): 8 week exercise program, nutritional & psychological consultation
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Stratification regarding post-COVID-19 fatigue syndrome at baseline yes/no
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: Long-COVID; SARS-CoV fatigue syndrome; Exercise; Rehabilitation