REACT D & C
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Characterise and quantify the biological, social and environmental drivers of medium-term health outcomes following infection with SARS-CoV-2: national administrative data linkage to the REACT national community prevalence programme
IRAS ID
298724
Contact name
Paul Elliott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 30 days
Research summary
It is important that we work to improve the prevention of COVID-19 and also change healthcare services to better meet the needs of people who get COVID-19. We are aiming to understand who is most at risk of getting the virus, why some people have worse symptoms, and why some people have symptoms that last a long time. Most studies of COVID-19 are looking at people who develop symptoms and therefore miss those with no or mild symptoms, as well as those with limited access to healthcare services.
The REACT (Real-Time Assessment of Community Transmission) study recruits a random group of people across England to test whether they have COVID-19 or had it in the past. This means that the results are not based on people with symptoms or who have visited healthcare services. The study included over 1.5 million people in 2020, including 30,000 who tested positive either for the virus or for antibodies.
Using this group of people, we will link the REACT research records to NHS data in order to advise public health planning by looking at the connection between testing positive for COVID-19 and any healthcare visits. We will also further look into who is most at risk of COVID-19 by linking REACT results to routine healthcare data, and also include environmental (air pollution) and different measures of poverty.
Finally, we will understand people’s risk of getting COVID-19 more than once by comparing Test and Trace data for people who both tested with and without antibodies in our study.
By linking REACT study data to the data collected by the NHS we will learn about the future health of the study participants.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0163
Date of REC Opinion
30 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion