Data Analytics to Help Identify Clinical Approaches to Long COVID

Using data analytics, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University (LSU), and Tulane Health Science Center researchers will investigate prevention and treatment methods for “long COVID” under a National Institutes of Health award.

The new award is part of the National Institutes of Health’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative, which is enrolling 30,000 to 40,000 participants over the next 12 to 18 months to study the long-term impact of COVID-19 infection.

“Pennington Biomedical, through the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center, is one of 25 research hubs that will study why some people are still sick many months after being infected by the virus and how these lengthy illnesses affect a person’s body,” said Pennington Biomedical Executive Director John Kirwan, PhD, in a press release.

The term long COVID covers a wide range of physical and mental health side effects, such as shortness of breath and brain fog, that some patients experience after the illness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 30 percent of people infected with COVID-19 experience symptoms lasting at least a month. Based on that information, researchers said that more than 200,000 Louisiana residents could be impacted by long COVID, as well as millions of people across the United States.

The NIH-funder studies will examine data from diverse populations and include clinical information, laboratory tests, and analyses of patients in various states of recovery after COVID-19 inflection.

“We expect this national-scale study to generate truly meaningful results for patients who are dealing with a broad and complex set of symptoms,” said Steve Nelson, MD, Louisiana Clinical & Translational Science (LA CaTS) Center Co-Program Director and Dean of LSU Health New Orleans. 

According to Lee Hamm, MD, LA CaTS Center Co-Program Director and Dean of the School of Medicine at Tulane University, one of the most important outcomes of the study will be the creation of a national database and specimen resource that allows researchers worldwide to rapidly understand, treat, and prevent long COVID.

The collaboration effort has significantly contributed to building upon and improving Louisiana’s research capabilities. Since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in 2020, according to researchers, the center has attracted resources and directed expertise for COVID-19 research.

The center is also working to improve community and population health efforts by expanding testing and developing awareness campaigns for underserved areas. Additionally, researchers are tracking COVID-19 variants through Louisiana and participating in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative to assist in creating new tools and resources.