Effect of interval hypoxic therapy in the hypoxia-hyperoxia mode on the hemostatic system of patients who have suffered a new coronavirus infection COVID-19

Background. The positive effect of interval hypoxic therapy in the treatment of many diseases has become the basis for its use in rehabilitation after a new coronavirus infection to normalize disorders of the hemostatic system.

Aim. To identify the peculiarities of the interval hypoxic therapy effect on the hemostatic system of patients who have suffered a new coronavirus infection.

Material and methods. The work was carried out from April 2020 to May 2022. 220 men aged 45–59 years (average age 48.8±2.4 years) were examined. The main group included 90 people who had a moderate coronavirus infection a month ago; the control group (n=70) was represented by relatively healthy people; the comparison group (n=60) suffered coronavirus infection and underwent standard rehabilitation without hypoxic therapy. The content of platelets, D-dimer, international normalized ratio, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, antithrombin III activity, interleukin-6 level, and C-reactive protein content in the blood serum was determined. To assess statistically significant differences, a parametric method applying paired and unpaired Student's t-test was used. Differences were considered statistically significant at p <0.05.

Results. In patients of the main group, a violation of the hemostatic system, indicating increased thrombogenicity of the blood against the background of persistent inflammatory activity, was revealed. After interval hypoxic therapy, the platelet count increased to 215.53±23.57×109/l (p=0.035), activated partial thromboplastin time to 26.74±1.84 s (p=0.035), international normalized ratio to 0.89±0.06 (p=0.005), antithrombin III activity in the blood up to 81.81±4.33% (p=0.007); the level of fibrinogen decreased to 3.86±1.09 g/l (p=0.035) and the content of D-dimer in the blood to 255.58±17.36 ng/ml (p=0.035). There was a decrease in the level of interleukin-6 to 6.03±0.65 pg/ml (p=0.035) and C-reactive blood protein to 1.03±0.15 mg/l (p=0.035).

Conclusion. Interval hypoxic therapy had a normalizing effect on the hemostatic system of patients who suffered a new coronavirus infection, as a result of suppressing the inflammatory process in the body.