Challenges and approaches to medical rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19 complications

The Covid-19 pandemic could reach several million people worldwide. Presumably, 5-15% of them will need medical rehabilitation after suffering from pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. A comprehensive search was performed in the databases MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE, Web of Science and MedPilot, CyberLeninka, and eLIBRARY on-drug rehabilitation methods that prevent the development of Covid-19 complications. The goals of medical rehabilitation at the preclinical stage are to achieve the correction of diseases that contribute to the development of Covid-19 complications (COPD, bronchial asthma, rhinosinusitis, diabetes mellitus), mainly due to non-drug methods. Non-drug technologies have a number of advantages over medications that have a side effect, and such as glucocorticoids and antibiotics lead to a worse prognosis of the underlying disease. Medical rehabilitation in the intensive care unit is aimed at reducing the risk of complications and increasing the functional reserves of the body, as well as reducing the area and degree of lung damage, preventing extrapulmonary complications, including secondary infection. The main goal of medical rehabilitation in a hospital is to reduce the severity of symptoms, resorption and repair in the lesion of lung tissue, reduce the development of fibrosis, and provide bronchial drainage to prevent secondary infection. In addition, timely transfer of the patient to a specialized stage of medical rehabilitation can increase the functional reserve of the respiratory muscles and exercise tolerance. The second, specialized stage of medical rehabilitation can be carried out in the conditions of a sanatorium-resort organization. The goals of this stage are not only to reduce symptoms and increase tolerance to physical activity, but also to improve the quality of life, psychological rehabilitation, and recovery.