Abstract
The overall understanding of the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors among patients discharged from hospitals following the acute phase of COV- ID-19 is still limited. Thus, there is still considerable debate regarding whether patients discharged from the hospital after a severe COVID-19 infection have fully recovered or whether they retain permanent lung damage or experience fibrotic lung changes. Many recommendations regarding respiratory rehabilitation in the post-acute phase have been published. Still, the efficacy of those published recommendations is unclear. This review has shed light on the need for more evidence of the beneficial effects of pulmonary rehabilitation programs on patients recovering from COVID-19 and their role in ensuring that this population can resume a functional life. Most of the evidence assessing the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation programs on COVID-19 survivors has been published as reports by various organizations and pulmonary rehabilitation committees, although there have been a few prospective cohort and cross-sectional studies. However, to produce findings that can be translated into practice, the challenges inherent to this line of research need to be addressed. Specifically, the extant risk of infection, quarantine times, and physical barriers rules have added more challenges to the implementation of pulmonary rehabilitation sessions. Overall, this field still has much to accomplish in the future to fully understand the long-term outcomes of COVID-19, also in the context of any future respiratory infection pandemic.