Among COVID-19 survivors, resistance exercise significantly improved physical function, well-being, and quality of life, per a randomized clinical trial of 233 adults published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.

From June 2021 to April 2024, a team led by University of Glasgow researchers conducted a multicenter trial to determine the effects of a resistance exercise intervention on exercise capacity, health status, and safety among Scottish adults after a hospital or community COVID-19 diagnosis in the preceding year.  

Intervention recipients (117) and 116 controls received three months of personalized resistance exercise or usual care, respectively. In total, 224 and 193 patients at baseline and three months, respectively, completed Incremental Shuttle Walk Tests. Participants also completed questionnaires on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), anxiety and depression, and grip strength.

"Individuals living with long COVID may experience impairments in physical function and skeletal muscle energetics," the researchers wrote. "Skeletal muscle mass and function are reduced with physical inactivity and may increase with resistance exercise."

Less depression and anxiety, better handgrip strength

The median patient age was 53.6 years, 62.7% were women, 93.1% were White, 39.1% were hospitalized, and the median adherence with the intervention was 71.0%, equivalent to doing the exercises 5 days a week.

This pragmatic intervention may be a generalizable therapy for individuals with persisting physical symptoms after COVID-19 infection.

The average distance reached in the shuttle walk test was 328 meters (m; 359 yards) for 224 participants at baseline and 389 m (425 yards) for 193 at follow-up. The average change in walk-test distance at three months relative to baseline was 83 m (91 yards) in the intervention group and 47 m (51 yards) in controls (adjusted mean difference, 36.5 m [40 yards]). 

At three months, relative to controls, greater improvements in intervention recipients were also seen for HRQoL, depression and anxiety, and handgrip strength. 

No deaths or intervention-related hospitalizations occurred. Among 99 patients who completed the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire, 83.3% of intervention recipients and 82.4% of controls reported postexertional malaise at three months.

"This pragmatic intervention may be a generalizable therapy for individuals with persisting physical symptoms after COVID-19 infection," the authors wrote.

Yesterday the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported seven more avian flu detections on commercial poultry farms, including three in Lagrange County, Indiana, which has had six major detections in poultry since the end of October. 

APHIS said two commercial duck meat farms in Lagrange County, with 8,400 and 8,300 birds, respectively, were hit with avian flu, as was a commercial table egg-layer facility with 18,300 birds. 

In Allegan County, Michigan, a turkey meat farm with 35,600 birds was also struck with avian flu. APHIS also noted infected backyard flocks in California, Oregon, and Virginia. 

In the past 30 days officials have confirmed highly pathogenic avian flu in 31 commercial flocks and 31 backyard flocks across the United States. Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota have seen the most activity, and at least 1.65 million birds have been affected nationwide.