Efficacy of Respiratory Physiotherapy on Severe ICU-admitted COVID-19 Patients.

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in China in December 2019 and in Italy in February 2020. A large proportion of infected people have mild clinical manifestations, whereas \>10% develop a severe disease, which could evolve into acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission. A high proportion of ICU patients need invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and about 50% of the ICU-admitted patients die. The median age of ICU COVID-19 patients was \<65 years and the mortality in patients aged \<63 years ranges from 15 to 20%. Early rehabilitation is safe and effective in critically ill patients and, in patients with ARDS, it helps to reduce the functional impairment due to the prolonged stay in ICU. Preliminary data suggest the implementation of early and active mobilization programs, as well as airway clearance, for patients with severe forms of COVID-19. To date, the role of respiratory physiotherapy in severe COVID-19 patients is still unclear. Aim of this study is to assess efficacy of early rehabilitation for severe ICU-admitted COVID-19 patients as compared to a group that did not recevied physiotherapy treatment in ICU. Physiotherapy efficacy is evaluated in terms of ventilator free days (VFD) during the first 30 days after neuromuscular blockade stop. Moreover, duration of ICU stay and patient functional status at ICU discharge will be evaluated.