The study will aim to include 30,000-40,000 people and will make use of digital data, including portable device inputs, the NIH said.
“We know that some people have had their lives completely affected by the important long-term effects of Covid-19,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of NIH.
“These studies will aim to determine the cause and find much-needed answers to prevent this often debilitating condition and help those suffering suffer towards recovery.”
“These post-covide conditions are often known as long covides, long-travel covides, post-acute covides-19, long-term effects of covides or chronic covides. NIH is scientifically referred to as PASC SARS-CoV-2,” he said. said Collins in a briefing.
“Persistent symptoms originate in multiple organs. The most common symptoms are pain, headaches, fatigue, so-called brain fog, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, chronic cough fever and sleep disorders. PASC also includes multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children or MIS-C and also in adults: MIS-A. “
It is unclear what the cause of these symptoms is and the study will look to find out what they might be.
“Is it an immune system error that cannot be restored after infection with this coronavirus? Is it the trigger for any metabolic dysfunction?” Collins asked.
“We don’t know. The diversity of symptoms and presentations makes us believe that long Covid is not just a condition,” he added.
“The only way, therefore, to solve it is with very extensive studies that collect a lot of data on symptoms, physical findings, and laboratory measurements.”
The NIH said it would encourage researchers to recruit various patients: people of all ages, ethnicities, pregnant women and others. Researchers will include patient contributions, an unusual approach that Collins said is important to make sure the study covers all bases.
The studies will also include data from portable devices. Collins said the study has been done in months, rather than the usual process of several years for something so large and complex.
Funding for the study comes from $ 1.155 billion that Congress specifically earmarked to study Covid for a long time, as part of the U.S. bailout plan that President Biden signed into law last March for President Biden, of $ 1.9 trillion.
Collins said the $ 470 million for the study will leave money to begin research into possible treatments.
The study will study whether various treatments used for severe cases of Covid-19 affect the risk of long-term Covid, whether vaccination affects the risk, and will include people who have only shown mild symptoms of coronavirus infections, the NIH said.