News and Events

Obstructive sleep apnea associated with increased risks for Long COVID

Study suggests adults with both the sleep disorder and COVID may benefit from clinical monitoring.

Among people who have had COVID-19, adults with obstructive sleep apnea were more likely to experience long-term symptoms suggestive of Long COVID than those without the sleep disorder, according to a large study supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In fact, multiple analyses of electronic health records (EHR) uncovered adults with sleep apnea may have up to a 75% higher risk of developing Long COVID. The findings are published in the journal SLEEP. Read the full news release.

NIH Director’s blog: What Clinical Research Comes Next for Helping People with Long COVID

“I connected with RECOVER to be a part of the answers that I was looking for when I was at my worst.” Long COVID patient and RECOVER representative, Nitza Rochez (Bronx, NY)

People, like Nitza Rochez, who are living with Long COVID—the wide-ranging health issues that can follow an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19—experience disabling symptoms with significant physical, emotional and financial consequences.

The NIH has been engaging and listening to Nitza and others living with Long COVID even before the start of its Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative. But now, with the launch of RECOVER, patients and those with affected family or community members have joined researchers, clinicians, and experts in their efforts to unlock the mysteries of Long COVID. All have come together to understand what causes the condition, identify who is most at risk, and determine how to prevent and treat it. Read the full update from Gary Gibbons, M.D., Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., and Hugh Auchincloss, M.D. at the NIH Director’s Blog.

NIH RECOVER research identifies potential long COVID disparities

Black and Hispanic Americans appear to experience more symptoms and health problems related to long COVID, a lay term that captures an array of symptoms and health problems, than white people, but are not as likely to be diagnosed with the condition, according to new research funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings – from two different studies by NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative – add to a growing body of research aimed to better understand the complex symptoms and other issues associated with long COVID that millions have experienced. Read the full news release.

RECOVER program takes first steps in advancing toward clinical trials to better understand Long COVID

The NIH RECOVER initiative is preparing several clinical trials to evaluate treatments to improve symptoms related to post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) or Long COVID. A trial protocol recently posted to ClinicalTrials.gov is in the final stages of development and approvals, and is expected to begin enrolling participants in early 2023. This trial is one of several that will test a variety of treatments for Long COVID.

Each trial will examine a treatment that targets one of five specific clusters of symptoms and their potential causes. Through RECOVER study questionnaires, surveys, and discussions with people who have Long COVID, these symptoms were considered most burdensome, most important to address, and the priorities for trial protocols under development.

The protocols for each trial were developed with patients and experts in these symptom areas. RECOVER researchers will also continue to engage patients, caregivers, and community representatives to better understand the impact of Long COVID on different groups.

More information about the clinical trials will be posted on recoverCOVID.org as it becomes available.

Read the full announcement for more details.

Duke Selected as RECOVER Clinical Trials Data Coordinating Center

The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) has been named the Clinical Trials Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for the NIH RECOVER Initiative. DCRI will partner with the RECOVER Administrative Coordinating Center (ACC), based at RTI International.

Together, the ACC and DCC will oversee the study’s clinical trial infrastructure, establish a patient registry, simultaneously launch prevention and therapeutic multi-intervention studies for both adults and children, and work to accelerate the clinical trial process.

The DCC will align with other, existing COVID research projects, including the RECOVER Consortium and the NIH-funded ACTIV (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) studies, to help advance the science on the health effects of COVID.

RECOVER Research Awards

RECOVER has awarded over $37 million in funding for more than 40 research projects. These studies will quickly advance what we know about how COVID affects different body tissues and organs.

The studies will tell us more about how the many different symptoms develop in people who have had COVID. We’ll also learn about what causes the long-term effects of COVID, known as Long COVID.

The research awards include:

• More funding to researchers whose current studies show promise to quickly advance understanding of what causes lasting symptoms in Long COVID.
• New funding to teams of RECOVER researchers from different specialty areas to support further analysis of tissue samples and data collected in current RECOVER studies.

View the awardees

NIH Director’s Blog: Using AI to Advance Understanding of Long COVID Syndrome

One of the most puzzling aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is understanding why some people who have short-term COVID later develop new symptoms. Or they may continue to have symptoms while also developing new ones. These Long COVID symptoms can vary a lot from person to person, which makes it hard to understand why some people are more likely to have Long COVID. In this blog post, NIH Director Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, discusses an important new RECOVER study published in The Lancet Digital Health that used artificial intelligence computer models to help unravel this mystery.

RECOVER Publication: Scientists use Electronic Health Records and Machine Learning to Better Define Long COVID

In a study published in The Lancet Digital Health, Pfaff and colleagues used electronic health record (EHR) data to find more than 100,000 likely cases of Long COVID in an EHR database of more than 13 million people.

The authors examined information from nearly 98,000 COVID-19 patients on demographics, use of health care services, medications, and diagnoses in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) database—a national, centralized public database led by NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). They used those data with information from nearly 600 patients at Long COVID clinics to create machine learning (ML) computer models that could identify potential Long COVID patients.

The ML models proved to be accurate and identified about 100,000 people in the database whose profiles matched those of people with Long COVID. The study findings will help researchers understand the characteristics and risk factors linked to Long COVID diagnosis and will also help identify potential Long COVID patients for clinical trials. As more data sources are identified, these models can be improved and adapted based on study needs.

NIH Builds Large Nationwide Study Population of Tens of Thousands to Support Research on Long-term Effects of COVID-19

The NIH awarded nearly $470 million to build a national study population of diverse research volunteers and support large-scale studies on the long-term effects of COVID-19. The NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative made the parent award to New York University (NYU) Langone Health, New York City, which will make multiple subawards to more than 100 researchers at more than 30 institutions and serves as the RECOVER Clinical Science Core.