Awareness of covid-19 and its effect on cardio-respiratory system among physiotherapy students and professionals–cross sectional study

Abstract

Understanding the effects of COVID-19 on the cardiorespiratory system is imperative as it is the primarily affected system of the body. Physiotherapists play a vital role in the treatment of COVID-19 patients;therefore, our study aims to assess the awareness regarding effects of COVID-19 on cardiorespiratory system among physiotherapy students and professionals. A self-structured validated questionnaire was distributed through an online method. A total of 240 participants consisting of physiotherapy professionals, post graduate, interns and under graduate physiotherapy students were included. The study revealed that out of 240 participants, 46 participants (19.16%) had poor, 155 participants (64%) had average and 39 participants had (16.25%) good awareness regarding COVID-19 and its effect on cardio-respiratory system. Both in the professionals and students’ group, more than half the participants (71.66% and 64.44%) had average awareness and the highest awareness was found to be in the post graduate group i.e., in the good category of about 31.66%.