Neuropsychological Consequences of COVID-19: role of Virtual Hospitals
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Neuropsychological Consequences of COVID-19: Long COVID and the role of "Virtual Hospitals"
IRAS ID
300361
Contact name
Keith Sullivan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study intends to report on the cognitive and emotional impact of long COVID across two groups that contracted COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic:
1. Group 1 includes participants that received support from West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust WHHT “virtual hospital” that subsequently did not require support from Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) new long COVID pathway.
2. Group 2 will include participants that did not seek or receive support during the acute stages of infection but that went on to present to the long COVID pathway.
This is to explore the hypothesis that:
• Support from the virtual hospital during the acute stages of infection from COVID-19 mediates potential for long COVID cognitive and emotional consequences.
This study will aim to recruit 15-30 participants from each group and is a mixed methods study with quantitative and qualitative elements:
1. Firstly, both groups will be asked to complete neuropsychological assessment utilising a standardised battery of cognitive tests. Descriptive statistics and generalised linear modelling will be used to illustrate differences between groups.
2. Results from the first part of the study will be used to inform semi-structured interviews or questionnaires with participants during the second part of the study. This will include questions about experience of COVID-19 illness. Thematic analysis will be used to identify themes that support description of differences between groups. Content analysis may also be used to identify additional commonly reported symptoms of COVID-19 and long COVID. Existing hospital data from the previous study may also be used for this.
Provisional approval has been granted from R&D teams at WHHT and CLCH. This study is part of a doctoral qualification at University of Hertfordshire and is therefore anticipated to be completed by June 2022 with submission for publication to peer-reviewed journals soon after.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
21/NS/0114
Date of REC Opinion
20 Sep 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion