RECOVER Research Update: March 2025

Since April 2022, RECOVER researchers have shared findings from their Long COVID studies through more than 100 different publications. 

The five publications discussed below have appeared in peer-reviewed scientific journals since the previous installment of the quarterly RECOVER Research Update. Together, these publications show the progress RECOVER is making toward understanding how and why Long COVID can affect everyone differently.

Body mass index and postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and young adults (JAMA Network Open, October 2024)

• Researchers investigated whether a child’s weight status can put them at higher risk for developing Long COVID. Researchers examined more than 170,000 electronic health records (EHRs) and categorized children taking part in the study based on their body mass index (BMI), which uses a person’s height and weight to estimate whether they are within a healthy weight range.
• Researchers found that children whose BMI put them in the category of people experiencing obesity were 25 percent more likely to develop Long COVID than children classified as having a healthy weight. Children whose BMI put them in category of people experiencing severe obesity were 42 percent more likely to develop Long COVID than children classified as having a healthy weight.
• These findings suggest that reaching and maintaining a healthy weight status could help protect a child from Long COVID or, if they have Long COVID, make their symptoms less burdensome.

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (Long COVID) in older adults (GeroScience, December 2024)

• This publication summarizes what scientists currently know about Long COVID in people ages 65 and above based on current research.
• After reviewing more than 59 research publications, researchers found that more evidence is needed to understand how much a person’s age and age-related changes to their overall health may impact their risk for developing Long COVID.
• Researchers also identified several improvements future studies might make to increase our knowledge of Long COVID in people ages 65 and older. For example, future studies could use more consistent definitions of who is an older adult, ask age-specific questions, and pay more attention to other health conditions commonly experienced by older adults.
• Check out our research summary for this publication.

Inflammatory pathways in patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: The role of the clinical immunologist (Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, November 2024)

• This publication summarizes what scientists currently know about the relationship between inflammation (the body’s response to an infection or injury) and Long COVID.
• Evidence suggests there are several different ways that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may also cause chronic (long-lasting) inflammation. Chronic inflammation is when the immune system stops working properly and begins to harm the body instead of protecting it from viruses, bacteria, and other things that can make a person feel sick. Chronic inflammation may be one reason why some people with Long COVID experience symptoms like body aches, chest pain, stomach pain, and fatigue (feeling very tired).
• This publication also summarizes what scientists know about medicines—including drugs that can reduce inflammation—and how effective they might at relieving symptoms of Long COVID. The authors emphasize that although some of these medicines show early promise, none of them have been approved for treating Long COVID.

Ethnic and racial differences in children and young people with respiratory and neurological post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2: An electronic health record-based cohort study from the RECOVER Initiative (eClinicalMedicine, February 2025)

• Researchers investigated whether specific social and environmental factors might put a child at higher risk for developing Long COVID. Social factors include whether a child is a member of a racial or ethnic minority group. Environmental factors, or factors related to where a person lives, include the kind and quality of health care services available to them.
• Researchers examined more than 770,000 EHRs and found several important patterns in that data. Children living in areas that offer poorer access to health care were more likely to develop Long COVID symptoms affecting their lungs or brain and nervous system. Hispanic White children and children below the age of five were more likely to have trouble breathing because of Long COVID. Non-Hispanic White children and adolescents (children between the ages of 12 and 17) were more likely to have trouble concentrating, thinking clearly, or remembering things because of Long COVID.
• Researchers believe these findings are important for two main reasons. First, these findings add to the growing body of evidence that there may be several different types of Long COVID. Secondly, these findings emphasize the critical role health care services—from COVID-19 vaccines to care that can help keep people from becoming very sick from COVID-19—can play in preventing Long COVID. 

Advancing interpretable regression analysis for binary data: A novel distributed algorithm approach (Statistics in Medicine, December 2024)

• Researchers created a new tool to use health data to understand people’s risk for developing a health condition.
• Researchers successfully validated (tested) this tool using EHRs belonging to children taking part in RECOVER research.
• Based on these test results, researchers believe their tool can be further improved to provide quick and accurate insights about risk factors for Long COVID and other health conditions, especially in cases where not much data is available.

Continue exploring RECOVER publications, RECOVER research summaries, and other resources related to RECOVER study findings.