Long COVID: Defining the disease and optimising outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Symptom profile and functional impact of COVID-19 in the long-term for hospitalised and non-hospitalised survivors
IRAS ID
291751
Contact name
Richard Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 29 days
Research summary
Although most individuals fully recover from COVID-19, some experience ongoing symptoms (Sacre et al 2020). Whilst it was initially predicted those requiring hospitalisation and intensive care would need rehabilitation (Barker-Davies et al 2020), it was not recognised that those who recovered at home may also experience longlasting effects. In reality, individuals remaining at home have experienced ongoing symptoms including fatigue, breathlessness, pain and mood related difficulties (Greenhalgh et al 2020). A lack of available services to support these individuals and individuals not feeling believed with regards to symptom presentation are reported (Ladds et al 2020). Who develops these ongoing symptoms and how long they last is not understood, and forms the basis for this observational study.
Working with the Suffolk and North East Essex Long COVID clinical pathway (SNELCAS), this project will document symptoms experienced and produce a core dataset up to 15 months after illness. This work will focus on rehabilitation needs. We will use this core dataset to determine which risk factors are predictive of long COVID. Close collaboration with SNELCAS will ensure lessons learned can improve the clinical pathway in ‘real time’ and assist with designing clinical services to meet the needs of this population, as well as provide focus for further interventional research studies.
Individuals who have sought support from their General Practitioner (GP) for ongoing symptoms and have been referred to SNELCAS will be approached to participate in the study. Participants will be contacted by phone or video call at three-month intervals up to 15 months after initially contracting COVID-19, to identify and assess symptom severity. Overall scales of health and disability will be used to understand how the symptoms experienced are impacting on everyday life.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
21/WS/0042
Date of REC Opinion
29 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion