Return-to-Play Timeline and Recovery Predictors After COVID-19 Infection in Elite Football Players
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Study Design and Data Collection
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Time Periods | May–Dec. 2020 | Jan–Dec. 2021 | Jan.–Jun. 2022 |
---|---|---|---|
Number of tested players | 38 | 42 | 35 |
Number of RT-PCR tests | 1458 | 2243 | 865 |
Number of positive RT-PCR tests | 9 | 27 | 38 |
Number of positive players | 2 | 9 | 16 |
Incidence of positive players (%) | 5.26 | 21.43 | 45.71 |
Incidence of positive RT-PCR tests (%) | 0.62 | 1.20 | 4.39 |
Symptoms | n | % |
---|---|---|
Loss of smell | 17 | 54.8 |
Dry cough | 16 | 51.6 |
Fever/hot flushes | 13 | 41.9 |
Loss of taste | 12 | 38.7 |
Muscle pain | 12 | 38.7 |
Sore throat | 11 | 35.5 |
Dizziness | 1 | 3.2 |
Diarrhea | 1 | 3.2 |
Nausea/vomiting | 0 | 0 |
Palpitations | 0 | 0 |
None | 3 | 9.7 |
Source of Support | Players (n) |
---|---|
Family and friends | 21 |
Teammates | 8 |
Team doctor | 10 |
Health staff | 8 |
Coaching staff | 8 |
Mental trainer | 6 |
Other doctors | 2 |
Infection Sequence | Average | SD | Median | Range | IQR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First Infection (n = 18) | |||||
RTT | 18.7 | 8.8 | 17 | 2–42 | 13–23 |
RTFM | 67.3 | 60.9 | 45 | 12–240 | 45–112 |
RTFM-T | 48.7 | 59.9 | 26 | 1–225 | 7.5–88 |
Second Infection (n = 4) | |||||
RTT | 7.4 | 6.5 | 6 | 3–18 | 3–13.5 |
RTFM | 72.5 | 73.3 | 18 | 6–159 | 9–146 |
RTFM-T | 64.2 | 72.3 | 50 | 3–155 | 4.5–139 |
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Sziva, A.; Kives, Z.; Szelid, Z. Return-to-Play Timeline and Recovery Predictors After COVID-19 Infection in Elite Football Players. Sports 2025, 13, 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13050147
Sziva A, Kives Z, Szelid Z. Return-to-Play Timeline and Recovery Predictors After COVID-19 Infection in Elite Football Players. Sports. 2025; 13(5):147. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13050147
Chicago/Turabian StyleSziva, Agnes, Zsuzsanna Kives, and Zsolt Szelid. 2025. "Return-to-Play Timeline and Recovery Predictors After COVID-19 Infection in Elite Football Players" Sports 13, no. 5: 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13050147
APA StyleSziva, A., Kives, Z., & Szelid, Z. (2025). Return-to-Play Timeline and Recovery Predictors After COVID-19 Infection in Elite Football Players. Sports, 13(5), 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13050147