ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Activity in the Prevention and Management of Disease
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1549132
This article is part of the Research TopicPost-Acute COVID RehabilitationView all 12 articles
Effects of a 24-week Multicomponent Training Program on Functional Capacity, Persistent Symptoms, Body Composition, and Physical Activity in Patients Significantly Affected by COVID-19: The COvid-19 and REhabilitation Study (CORE-Study) - Randomized Clinical Trial
Provisionally accepted
Angelica Danielevicz*
Mabel Diesel
Carla Elane Silva dos Santos
Maria Eduarda de Moraes SirydakisPaulo Urubatan Gama de MeloMarina Isolde ConstantiniFernanda Hansen
Aline Mendes Gerage
Cíntia FreitasCassiano Ricardo RechRosemeri Maurici
Rodrigo Sudatti Delevatti- Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil
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Background: Covid-19 can lead to reduced functional capacity, loss of muscle mass, lasting and persistent symptoms leading to reduced physical activity. Objective: To evaluate the effects of a multicomponent training on functional capacity, persistent symptoms, body composition, pulmonary function and physical activity levels in patients significantly impaired by SARS-Cov-2. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to the intervention group (IG) that received multicomponent training (balance/aerobic/resistance), or to the control group (CG). Functional capacity (6-minute walk test (6MWT) - primary outcome, sit and reach, sit-to-stand, timed up and go), persistent symptoms (dyspnea, fatigue, post-COVID functional status, frailty), body composition (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and bioimpedance), pulmonary function and physical activity levels (accelerometry) were evaluated at baseline and after 24 weeks. Generalized Estimating Equations were used, α: 0.05. Outcomes were analyzed by intention to treat (ITT) and per protocol (PP). Effect sizes (ES) were calculated from the mean difference between groups of changes between pre-and post-intervention. Results: Forty participants (age=52.00[12.93] years, 19 women) were included. The primary outcome 6MWT showed improvements in both groups in the ITT analysis (IG:35.5m, 95%CI:-3.0;74.1; CG:37.4m, 95%CI:-5.26;80.2), and in the IG (87.6m, %CI:50.6;124.4) in out PP analysis. IG showed a reduction in mental fatigue (-1.7points, 95%CI:-0.5;3.5) and general fatigue (-6,5points, 95%CI:-9.4;-3.5) in out ITT analysis. IG also revealed improvements in timed up and go test (-1.6s, 95%CI:-2.6;-0.6), mental fatigue (-2.0points, 95%CI:-3.6;0.7), general fatigue (-6.4points, 95%CI:-11.0;-1.6) and a protective effect against increased body fat in PP analysis. Conclusion: This program was effective in improving fatigue in patients previously significantly affected by COVID-19.
Keywords: Rehabilitation, physical exercise, COVID - 19, physical capacity, SARS - CoV
Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Danielevicz, Diesel, dos Santos, Sirydakis, de Melo, Constantini, Hansen, Gerage, Freitas, Rech, Maurici and Delevatti. 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: Angelica Danielevicz, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil
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