Author(s): KWAK, Y.S., Institution: DONG-EUI UNIV, Country: KOREA, SOUTH, Abstract-ID: 209

INTRODUCTION:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people worldwide and caused a pandemic that is still ongoing. The virus can cause a disease named as COVID-19, which is composed of multi systemic manifestations with a pulmonary system predominance with often damage to numerous other cells and organs, leading to an array of symptoms. Many individuals have reported persistent symptoms and/or complications lasting beyond 4 weeks, which is now called post-COVID-19 syndrome. While the precise definition of Post-COVID may be lacking, the most common symptoms reported in many studies are fatigue and dyspnea that last for months after acute COVID-19. Other persistent symptoms such as cognitive and mental impairments, chest and joint pains, palpitations, myalgia, smell and taste dysfunctions, cough, headache, and gastrointestinal and cardiac issues were reported.
The purpose of this integrative review is to summarize and evaluate post-COVID-19 syndrome from a biological perspective and also discuss about physical exercise interventions. It is thus imperative to study post-COVID (short-term) and long-COVID (long-term) effects, specifically as local and systemic pathophysiological outcomes of other coronavirus-related diseases with the exercise interventions.
METHODS:
Pubmed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar search engines were used to identify the definition, mechanism, pathophysiology of short and long post-COVID and to find long COVID-19 and exercise-intervention benefits.
RESULTS:
Medical treatments for COVID-19 (anticoagulants, corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, oxygenation therapy and ventilation) and vaccination have improved patient outcomes. The majority of patients will recover spontaneously or after acute-phase management, but clinicians are now faced with long-term complications of COVID-19 including a large variety of symptoms, defined as "post-acute COVID-19 syndrome". Since the lungs are the most involved organs and the post-COVID prolonged and persistent effects are mainly related to the pulmonary system, it is crucial to define and predict the outcome and to determine the individuals that can progress to fibrosis and loss of function of lungs. The findings from our review indicated that there were four pathophysiological categories involved: virus-specific pathophysiological variations, oxidative stress, immunologic abnormalities, and inflammatory damage.
CONCLUSION:
Although studies examining the pathophysiology of post-COVID-19 syndrome are still relatively few, there is growing evidence that this is a complex and multifactorial syndrome involving virus-specific pathophysiological variations that affect many mechanisms but specifically oxidative stress, immune function, and inflammation. Further research is needed to elucidate the pathophysiology, pathogenesis, and longer term consequences involved in post-COVID-19 syndrome. This recent research summarizes the current literature regarding the pulmonary complications in post-COVID syndrome and the management of these conditions with regular physical exercise. Multicomponent exercise-intervention program (4-5 days per weeks, 35-60% HRR, 100-250 minutes aerobic exercise) considered especially for the post-COVID syndrome patients were recommended with all forms of psychological support such as meditation and MBI. Adopting life style changes will be helpful to reduce post-COVID-19 syndromes