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Understanding of PASC (post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2), including Long COVID, is constantly evolving as new research is funded and studies begin. Stay informed by reading the latest news, watching videos, and participating in upcoming events.
Latest News and Updates

RECOVER study provides scientists with deeper insight into Long COVID
Study identifies most common Long COVID symptoms with aim of improving future diagnostics and treatment
Initial findings from a RECOVER study of nearly 10,000 Americans, many of whom had COVID-19, have uncovered new details about Long COVID. Researchers found in the study, published in JAMA, that certain Long COVID symptoms occurred together, and defined four symptom patterns or clusters that have a range of impacts on patient health. The research team also found that Long COVID was more common and severe in study participants infected before the 2021 Omicron variant.
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.
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.
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.
Videos and Presentations
RECOVER Research Review (R3) Seminar Series

RECOVER Research Review (R3) Seminar Series
The goal of the R3 Seminar Series is to catalyze a shared understanding of the research of the scientific stakeholder community within the RECOVER consortium. Working and learning together, while keeping each other up to date on the latest insights to accelerate discovery. Some R3 sessions will also inform the public about RECOVER and other research on PASC. All sessions will be recorded and posted to recoverCOVID.org.
Visit the R3 Seminar Page to View Upcoming SeminarsNIH VideoCast Recording: Highlights of Pandemic Related Successes in Tribal Communities Webinar
NIH RECOVER, the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL), and the Tribal Health Research Office (THRO) co-sponsored the Highlights of Pandemic Related Successes in Tribal Communities Webinar, held on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. This event was tailored specifically for research team members across RECOVER, CEAL, and NIH to spotlight successful approaches used during the COVID-19 pandemic to engage members of Tribal Communities. Experts from the Center for Indigenous Health and the Indian Health Service shared how they met the needs and priorities of these communities, overcame barriers to vaccination, and developed best practices for engagement around COVID-19 related research that might be applicable to other research efforts and public health matters of importance. The webinar also featured a panel discussion and a live Q&A session, which were moderated by Mose A Herne, MPH, MS, THRO Senior Advisor.
RECOVER Electronic Health Records (EHR) Study Compares Risks of Heart Problems after COVID Infection and mRNA COVID Vaccination
Researchers from RECOVER and the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) compared the risk of heart problems after COVID infection and after mRNA COVID vaccination. They used EHR data from 40 health care systems representing more than 15 million people, aged 5 years or older. The study compared people of similar age, gender, and number of vaccine doses to see what increased the risk of heart problems.
The study found that the risk of heart problems after getting an mRNA COVID vaccine was very low for people of all ages and genders. Also, the risk of having heart problems after having COVID was significantly higher than after getting an mRNA COVID vaccine.
These findings support the continued use of the recommended mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible people aged 5 or older. See this recent study in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
RECOVER January Listening Session Recording Available: Understanding Long COVID Across Communities of Color (January 21, 2022)
This event facilitated discussion between RECOVER researchers and members of organizations that represent and support communities of color to better understand levels of awareness of Long COVID in these communities. It also informed opportunities to promote diverse and inclusive participation in the RECOVER Initiative studies. Dr. Andrea Lerner from the NIH and Dr. Natasha Williams from NYU Langone Health cohosted the event alongside the moderator, Dr. James E.K. Hildreth of Meharry Medical College.
A transcript of the event is available here (PDF, 136 KB).
PASC Seminar Series Sponsored by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health sponsors the ACTIV seminar series, which is organized in partnership with Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. ACTIV brings together leading experts on PASC to share their published or ongoing research on different aspects of the disease. The sessions are recorded and published, and you can watch past sessions at the ACTIV link above. Some past ACTIV presentations include:
- Barriers to Improving PASC Outcomes – Dr. Michelle Gong, MD, MS, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, October 4, 2021
- Probing Disease Mechanisms of Long COVID – Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine, October 28, 2021
- Neurological Symptoms During and After COVID-19 – Dr. Shelli Farhadian, MD, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine, November 4, 2021
- Observations on Long COVID through an ME/CFS Lens – Peter Rowe, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine, January 14, 2022
RECOVER Launches the Live Series: First Session Recording
The first RECOVER Live Series event, Inside the RECOVER Initiative, a Conversation with Dr. Stuart Katz of NYU Langone Health, was held on November 30, 2021. Dr. Katz shared information from experts working on the RECOVER Initiative about what is being done to understand, prevent, and treat PASC, including Long COVID. This event also included a live Q&A session, where people viewing online posted questions for Dr. Katz. View the recording.
A transcript of the event is available here (PDF, 106 KB).
Understanding Long COVID: The Unseen Public Health Crisis
Understanding Long COVID: The Unseen Public Health Crisis
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted a free, online discussion on November 19, 2021 that brought together clinicians, researchers, policy experts, and Long COVID patients.
RECOVER Initiative Stakeholder Briefing
RECOVER Initiative Stakeholder Briefing
In coordination with the RECOVER Initiative announcement on September 15, 2021, the NIH invited RECOVER Initiative stakeholders to join NIH leadership in a public briefing to discuss the announcement and address questions from the community. The briefing was led by Dr. Amy Patterson (NIH – NHLBI), with Dr. Stuart Katz (NYU, Principal Investigator of the RECOVER Clinical Science Core), Emily Taylor (Solve M.E.), and Dr. Lenora Johnson (NIH – NHLBI), who addressed more than 550 virtual attendees and answered questions about the RECOVER Initiative.
A transcript of the event is available here (PDF, 137 KB).
Long-term COVID Patient Engagement: Best Practices Informed By Patients' Experiences Seeking Medical Care
Long-term COVID Patient Engagement: Best Practices Informed By Patients' Experiences Seeking Medical Care
During COVID-19 Grand Rounds hosted by the NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory on July 23, 2021, representatives of Survivor Corps presented their efforts to conduct research with their online community of 170,000 individuals affected by COVID-19. Survivor Corps is a grassroots movement using its members' collective experience to build a repository of data sets and research tools to support COVID-19 research, including studies on PASC and Long COVID.
Neurologic and Psychiatric Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Neurologic and Psychiatric Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Hosted by the NIH, this meeting looked at the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the brain and possible interactions with other infections, such as HIV. Watch the recording to hear scientists discuss related research gaps and priorities.
Treating Long COVID: Clinician Experience with Post-Acute COVID-19 Care
Treating Long COVID: Clinician Experience with Post-Acute COVID-19 Care
In this webinar, clinicians share their experiences with treating Long COVID and establishing clinics that provide care for patients with the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Media Inquiries
Are you a member of the media or press? Please direct inquiries to the RECOVER@nih.gov inbox. Please place "MEDIA INQUIRY" in the subject line.