The effectiveness of hypo-hyperoxic training in the medical rehabilitation of patients who have undergone COVID-19

BACKGROUND: Interval hypo-hyperoxic training is a new promising technology in medical rehabilitation, including the rehabilitation of patients with post-COVID syndrome. However, the mechanisms of therapeutic action of interval hypo-hyperoxic training in the recovery period after suffering COVID-19 have not been fully studied. The effectiveness of interval hypo-hyperoxic training largely depends on the method of interval hypo-hyperoxic training.

AIM: to develop modes and study the effectiveness of the use of interval hypoxic training in patients with post-COVID syndrome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The performed open randomized comparative study involved patients with a diagnosis of post-COVID syndrome ― "Condition after COVID-19" according to the ICD (code U09.9). Patients of the main group, against the background of a course of traditional rehabilitation treatment, received interval hypo-hyperoxic therapy from the OXYTERRA device. In the comparison group, patients received only a traditional course of rehabilitation treatment. The study was conducted for 4 months. To assess the effectiveness of interval hypo-hyperoxic training before and after the course of rehabilitation, we studied the dynamics of the parameters of the circulatory system and the function of external respiration.

RESULTS: 50 patients (19 women, 31 men, mean age 61.7±7.7 years) were randomly divided into the main group (n=30) and the comparison group (n=20). All patients completed a full course of rehabilitation. It was established that the course of training with interval hypo-hyperoxic training contributed to an increase in the oxygen capacity of the blood, an increase in the oxygen content in arterial blood, a decrease in heart rate, normalization of the level of systolic and diastolic pressure, restoration of stroke and minute blood volume parameters in patients of the main group. Interval hypo-hyperoxic training caused an improvement in the functional state of the bronchopulmonary system (p <0.049). There was an improvement in the activity of the central ergotropic and humoral-metabolic mechanisms of heart rhythm regulation, correction of the activity of the sympathetic link of regulation and the modulating effect of the parasympathetic division on the heart rhythm, normalization of the vagosympathetic balance coefficient.

CONCLUSION: The use of interval hypo-hyperoxic training in the recovery period in patients with post-COVID syndrome according to the developed method caused a stable improvement in the clinical condition, which lasted from 3 to 6 months after the completion of complex rehabilitation.