BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1566235
Use of speleotherapy in patients with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
Provisionally accepted
- Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
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Background: Post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) is characterized by persistent or newly developed symptoms and performance deficits lasting at least three months following SARS-CoV-2 infection, with dyspnea as a common symptom. Speleotherapy, a form of climatotherapy utilizing the microclimatic conditions of natural or artificial caves, has been proposed as a supportive treatment for chronic airway diseases, potentially improving lung function and exercise tolerance. Methods: This study investigated the short-term effects of speleotherapy on lung diffusion capacity (DLCO) in PCS patients through a prospective interrupted time-series analysis. Forty-six patients (51.9±9.3 years; 43% female) referred for rehabilitation were included, with a history of COVID-19 infection and persistent deficits lasting over three months. Patients underwent spirometric assessments of DLCO repeatedly on days without speleotherapy intervention as well as days with intervention, alongside subjective symptom evaluations using the Nijmegen questionnaire.Results: PCS patients performed a median of 4(7) speleotherapy sessions during rehabilitation, resulting in a total of 388 measurements. Analysis revealed no significant changes in DLCO or related parameters (KCO, IV, TLC, RV) during rehabilitation and between speleotherapy and control days (p≥0.544). Subgroup analysis of patients with DLCO below 80% of predicted reference and symptom severity assessments also revealed no therapeutic benefits. Speleotherapy frequency showed no dose-dependent effects on pulmonary outcomes (p=0.171). Findings from a small control group confirmed these results (p≥0.997).Conclusion: Speleotherapy did not improve lung diffusion capacity or alleviate symptoms in PCS patients within this study cohort. Further research is needed to investigate if speleotherapy can alleviate pulmonary dysfunction in different PCS populations.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, Post-COVID-19, Long Covid, Speleotherapy, DLCO
Received: 24 Jan 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Garbsch, Kotewitsch, Schäfer, Teschler, Mooren and Schmitz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: René Garbsch, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
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