Disclosures: Sean D. Dreyer, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Background and/or Objectives: Elevated levels of inflammatory laboratory markers have been shown to be associated with increased severity of acute COVID-19 infection, and may have prognostic value in predicting mortality. However, the relationship between inflammatory markers and functional outcomes in inpatient rehabilitation has not yet been studied. Our study examines this relationship, with the goal of investigating if there is prognostic value of these labs for rehabilitation potential.

Design: Retrospective cohort study

Setting: Acute inpatient rehabilitation at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago IL

Participants: N&#3f182 patients admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) for functional impairment secondary to acute COVID-19 infection.

Interventions: Not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: The relationship between change in mobility, self-care, and cognition functional independence measures from admission to discharge, and selected laboratory values on admission: leukocyte count, platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and c-reactive protein (CRP). Statistical analysis was performed using Spearman’s rank correlation for lab values as continuous variables and two-sample t-tests for labs as categorical values (normal vs abnormal).

Results: There were no statistically significant associations between change in functional outcomes and selected inflammatory laboratory values. However, the baseline laboratory values of ESR and CRP trended towards an association with change in self-care (p=0.09 and p=0.08, respectively), and baseline CRP trended towards an association with change in mobility (p=0.07). An abnormal platelet count trended towards less improvement in self-care scores in IRF from admission to discharge (p=0.08).

Conclusions: Inflammatory laboratory markers do not show a clear association with functional improvement through inpatient rehabilitation for COVID-19-related debility. However, given the near significance of several lab values, a larger sample size may elucidate prognostic value of several of these markers, which would provide utility for expected rehabilitation needs after infection with acute COVID-19.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/baseline-levels-of-inflammation-in-association-with-functional-recovery-in-covid-19-patients/