NIH Creates Study to Examine Long COVID-19, Population Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded nearly $470 million to create a large national study population to support research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 and gain insight into population health.

The NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative made the parent award to New York University (NYU) Langone Health, which will feature multiple sub-awards for more than 100 researchers at more than 30 institutes and serves as the RECOVER Clinical Science Core.

NIH launched the RECOVER Initiative to understand why some people have prolonged symptoms or develop new or returning symptoms after COVID-19 infection. The most common symptoms are pain, headaches, fatigue, “brain fog,” shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, fever, chronic cough, and problems sleeping.

“We know some people have had their lives completely upended by the major long-term effects of COVID-19,” NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, said in a press release. “These studies will aim to determine the cause and find much needed answers to prevent this often-debilitating condition and help those who suffer move toward recovery.”

Data from the RECOVER Cohort will feature clinical information, laboratory tests, and analyses of participants in various states of recovery after COVID-19 infection. With the immediate availably of data from existing, diverse study populations, researchers anticipate an accelerated timeline for the research.

“This scientifically rigorous approach puts into place a collaborative and multidisciplinary research community inclusive of diverse research participants that are critical to informing the treatment and prevention of the long-term effects of COVID-19,” said Gary H. Gibbons, MD, director of NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and one of the co-chairs of the RECOVER Initiative.

Studies will include adult, pregnant, and pediatric populations; enroll patients during different phases of COVID-10 infection; evaluate tissue pathology; analyze data from millions of electronic health records; and use mobile health technologies to gather real-world data in real-time.

According to researchers, these studies will provide insights into long-COVID effects, including symptoms, underlying causes, risk factors, outcomes, and potential strategies for treatment and prevention.

“Given the range of symptoms that have been reported, intensive research using all available tools is necessary to understand what happens to stall recovery from this terrible virus. Importantly, the tissue pathology studies in RECOVER will enable in depth studies of the virus’s effects on all body systems,” said Walter J. Koroshetz, MD, director of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

The research opportunity announcements were issued in February 2021, and awards to start the RECOVER Clinical Science Core and Data Resource Core were announced in June. An award in support of a RECOVER Biorepository Core was also issued to the Mayo Clinic for approximately $40 million to collect, curate, and distribute comprehensive sources of clinical samples for additional research studies.

The Cores provide coordination and infrastructure for the RECOVER Initiative, such as supporting the activities of the investigator consortium and ensuring that all data can be shared among researchers. In May and June, more than 30 institutions were awarded short-term awards to develop the master protocols.

 According to researchers, these awards will develop an understanding of long- term effects of COVID-19 in population health and allow researchers to identify potential interventions and preventive strategies.