Early physical rehabilitation dosage in the intensive care unit associates with hospital outcomes after critical COVID-19

To examine the relationship between physical rehabilitation parameters including an approach to quantifying dosage with hospital outcomes for patients with critical COVID-19. Retrospective practice analysis from March 5, 2020, to April 15, 2021. Intensive care units (ICU) at four medical institutions. n = 3780 adults with ICU admission and diagnosis of COVID-19. We measured the physical rehabilitation treatment delivered in ICU and patient outcomes: (1) mortality; (2) discharge disposition; and (3) physical function at hospital discharge measured by the Activity Measure-Post Acute Care (AM-PAC) “6-Clicks” (6–24, 24 = greater functional independence). Physical rehabilitation dosage was defined as the average mobility level scores in the first three sessions (a surrogate measure of intensity) multiplied by the rehabilitation frequency (PT + OT frequency in hospital). The cohort was a mean 64 ± 16 years old, 41% female, mean BMI of 32 ± 9 kg/m2 and 46% (n = 1739) required mechanical ventilation. For 2191 patients who received rehabilitation, the dosage and AM-PAC at discharge were moderately, positively associated (Spearman’s rho [r] = 0.484, p < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression (model adjusted R2 = 0.68, p < 0.001) demonstrates mechanical ventilation (β = − 0.86, p = 0.001), average mobility score in first three sessions (β = 2.6, p < 0.001) and physical rehabilitation dosage (β = 0.22, p = 0.001) were predictive of AM-PAC scores at discharge when controlling for age, sex, BMI, and ICU LOS. Greater physical rehabilitation exposure early in the ICU is associated with better physical function at hospital discharge.