Effect of Prone Positioning on Oxygen Saturation in COVID-19 Patients in Sri Aurobindo Hospital, Indore

Background: Physiotherapeutic intervention body positioning have been observed to increase oxygen saturation. In COVID-19 patients, we intended to investigate how the prone position worked in conjunction with conventional respiratory physiotherapy. The objective was to determine the effect of prone position along with conventional respiratory physiotherapy on SpO2 of COVID-19 patients in Aurobindo hospital, Indore district.

Methods: The Ministry of Health, Government of India, authorized the rules for collecting data from infected patients. In this study, 400 patients between the ages of 20 and 80 years old were recruited from Sri Aurobindo Hospital in the Indore district, all of them had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and required oxygen treatment. SpO2 data was collected as a baseline. Patients were helped into the prone position after baseline data collection and conventional respiratory physiotherapy. Clinical data was obtained again after using the prone posture in conjunction with conventional respiratory physiotherapy. To demonstrate the various prone variations, a patient information sheet was supplied. At 0 and 60 minutes after the exercise, oxygen saturation was measured.

Results: Between April 2020 to June 2020, we assessed SpO2 of 400 Patients pre and post prone position along with conventional respiratory physiotherapy. Prone positioning was feasible. Oxygenation was significantly improved from supine to prone position. The data were processed for mean and standard deviation. It was analyzed that there was difference in pre to post value of mean, from 95.685 to 98.123 with standard deviation from 1.645to 1.445. The result shows significant improvement in SpO2 after applying prone positioning in patients infected with COVID-19. The findings suggest that prone positioning is both possible and beneficial in increasing blood oxygenation in awake COVID-19 patients. Further study is needed to find the technique's potential value in terms of enhancing overall respiratory and global outcomes.

Conclusion: The difference between the saturation of the two position was significant.