Protective Effects of BNT162b2 Vaccination on Aerobic Capacity Following Mild to Moderate SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study Israel

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine 2022-07, Vol.11 (15), p.4420
• Main Authors: Blumberg, Yair, Edelstein, Michael, Abu Jabal, Kamal, Golan, Ron, Tuvia, Neta, Perets, Yuval, Saad, Musa, Levinas, Tatyana, Saleem, Dabbah, Israeli, Zeev, Alaa, Abu Raya, Elbaz Greener, Gabby, Amital, Anat, Halabi, Majdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anaerobic threshold; Carbon dioxide; Clinical medicine; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 vaccines; Cross-sectional studies; Exercise; Heart rate; Hospitals; Infections; Long COVID; Physical fitness; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spirometry; Ventilation
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm11154420

Patients previously infected with acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may experience post-acute adverse health outcomes, known as long COVID. The most reported symptoms are fatigue, headache and attention/concentration issues, dyspnea and myalgia. In addition, reduced aerobic capacity has been demonstrated in both mild and moderate COVID-19 patients. It is unknown whether COVID-19 vaccination mitigates against reduced aerobic capacity. Our aim was to compare the aerobic capacity of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. Methods: Individuals aged 18 to 65 years with laboratory-confirmed mild to moderate COVID-19 disease were invited to Ziv Medical Centre, Israel, three months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. We compared individuals unvaccinated at the time of infection to those vaccinated in terms of aerobic capacity, measured using symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). Results: We recruited 28 unvaccinated and 22 vaccinated patients. There were no differences in baseline demographic and pulmonary function testing (PFT) parameters. Compared with unvaccinated individuals, those vaccinated had higher V’O2/kg at peak exercise and at the anaerobic threshold. The V’O2/kg peak in the unvaccinated group was 83% of predicted vs. 100% in the vaccinated (p < 0.002). At the anaerobic threshold (AT), vaccinated individuals had a higher V’O2/kg than those unvaccinated. Conclusions: Vaccinated individuals had significantly better exercise performance. Compared with vaccinated individuals, a higher proportion of those unvaccinated performed substantially worse than expected on CPET. These results suggest that vaccination at the time of infection is associated with better aerobic capacity following SARS-CoV-2 infection.