About the Initiative
Taking a united approach toward recovery
What is RECOVER?
Diverse and Inclusive
RECOVER studies involve tens of thousands of people from all walks of life, hundreds of research investigators, and millions of electronic health records (EHRs). Findings from each RECOVER study type inform the other RECOVER studies to accelerate our understanding of Long COVID.
Patient-Centered
Patients, their families, and caregivers play critical roles in RECOVER research. By sharing their experiences and perspectives, they help us understand why Long COVID impacts people in different ways.
Adaptive Research Network
RECOVER’s mission is to address the widespread and diverse impacts of Long COVID. Taking a multidisciplinary, large-scale approach allows us to address the complexity of Long COVID and find solutions for everyone.
Integrated Study Design
RECOVER research findings are compatible across all RECOVER studies. Study protocols are the same for each study type at each RECOVER research site. In this way, RECOVER researchers can learn from each other’s research and get more answers about Long COVID more quickly.
RECOVER is also part of the whole-of-government response to the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 including Long COVID and associated health conditions. The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice (OLC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leads this response. RECOVER collaborates with the OLC and 13 other federal agencies and departments to produce answers to urgent questions about the physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic impacts of Long COVID.
Read the HHS report describing how the OLC and its partners, including RECOVER, are working together to help people suffering from Long COVID.
Scientific Aims
01
Understand the range of recovery from Long COVID and changes it can cause in our bodies over time.
02
Define risk factors, understand the number of people getting Long COVID, and determine whether there are specific, different Long COVID types.
03
Study how Long COVID changes over time and how those changes may relate to other illnesses.
04
Identify possible treatments for Long COVID symptoms.
How Does it Work?
Research Components & Information Exchange
RECOVER is unprecedented in its size and scope. It includes the world’s most comprehensive and diverse cohort of Long COVID patients. RECOVER researchers are studying a collection of more than 60 million EHRs for insights about those who received care during the pandemic. RECOVER is also enrolling 20,000 adults, pregnant people, and children in cohort studies and leveraging existing community-based studies to include 60,000 more people.
Learning from People
- Cohort and Community-based Studies
- Autopsy/Tissue Pathology Studies
Clinical Science
- Pathobiology
Real World Data
- Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Digital Health Program
Studying Treatments
- Clinical Trials
All Data Shared
Data is shared between the different types of RECOVER research to inform clinical trials.
RECOVER is combining data from 4 different types of studies to understand what’s happening in the body when people have Long COVID. These data include insights from studies of people and of real-world health data, the results of more than 40 pathobiology studies examining more than 50 types of tissues, and the results of autopsies and tissue pathology studies.
RECOVER is also using the findings from each of these study types and from patient experiences to inform the development of integrated platform clinical trials. The clinical trials will identify possible treatments to help with Long COVID symptoms.
Progress to Date
Created the world's most comprehensive and diverse cohort of Long COVID patients.
New discoveries about Long COVID symptoms, who has Long COVID, why some people are more at risk of getting Long COVID, and how Long COVID can affect people differently.
Added real-time health data from wearable sensors to real-world data collected from 60 million EHRs.
Gained insights from cohort studies, which met enrollment goals for adults, to inform clinical trials.
Launched clinical trials to develop interventions and evaluate treatments for symptoms of Long COVID.
Research findings in plain language. View easy-to-read summaries of RECOVER research publications
What's to Come
More progress toward RECOVER’s goal to understand, diagnose, prevent, and treat Long COVID. Explore research findings in publications
Sharing data with researchers beyond RECOVER. Continue to share findings in R3 Seminar series. See upcoming R3 seminars
Compare and validate EHR findings with other real-world data.
Continued involvement of patients, caregivers, and community members in the research process. Learn about Community Participation in RECOVER
Patient registry to continue involvement of participants in RECOVER.
Meet cohort study enrollment goals for pregnant people, babies, children, and adolescents to gain more insights.