Discover what the latest science from the RECOVER Initiative means for our ability to understand, diagnose, prevent, and treat Long COVID.
This page contains descriptions of findings from RECOVER research studies. These descriptions use plain language and a format that is easy to understand.
If you want to learn more about the scientific discoveries described here, you can also browse and search the complete list of RECOVER Publications.
RECOVER researchers wanted to learn if there are different types of Long COVID based on symptoms and health problems that often happen together. Researchers used data from electronic health records (EHRs) of about 35,000 people diagnosed with COVID. The EHRs were from 2 healthcare systems in PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network. They used a computer program to look for patterns in people’s new symptoms and health problems that started 30 to 180 days after having COVID.
The researchers found 4 main types of Long COVID based on symptoms and health problems that happen together. The 4 types of Long COVID are related to the 1) heart and kidneys, 2) breathing, sleep, and anxiety, 3) muscles and nerves, and 4) digestive tract and breathing. This research could help define types of Long COVID to give people more specific diagnoses and treatment plans.
RECOVER researchers used data in electronic health records (EHRs) from children’s hospitals that were a part of the National Pediatric Learning Health System Network (PEDSnet). Researchers looked for symptoms, health conditions, and medicines children had about 1 to 6 months after a COVID test. They compared children who did and didn’t have COVID to learn how many children who had COVID got Long COVID, and symptoms and health problems Long COVID causes in children.
The researchers learned that Long COVID is uncommon in children and happens in about 4% of children with COVID compared to in about 5% - 21% of adults with COVID. They also learned the Long COVID symptoms and health conditions that happen most often in children include changes in smell or taste hair loss, trouble breathing, and inflammation (swelling) in the heart or muscles.
RECOVER researchers wanted to learn if a computer program could identify if people have Long COVID based on electronic health records (EHRs). They used EHRs from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C). Researchers created and used a computer program to compare people with Long COVID to those who didn’t have Long COVID (based on whether or not people had a visit to a Long COVID clinic in their EHR). The computer program looked for patterns in people’s symptoms, health conditions, and other data.
The researchers concluded their computer program could be used to identify people with possible Long COVID. The computer program found that people with Long COVID have patterns in their health care visits, age groups, symptoms and health conditions, and the medicines they take. This could help connect people with Long COVID to health care or invite them to join research studies.
Heart problems after having COVID and after getting an mRNA COVID vaccine
RECOVER researchers used data from over 15 million people’s electronic health records (EHR) to compare how many people have heart problems after having COVID or getting an mRNA COVID vaccine. They used EHR data from 40 health systems in PCORnet, the National Patient Centered Clinical Research Network.
Researchers found that the chance of having heart problems is higher after having COVID than after getting an mRNA COVID vaccine for men and women in all age groups. The overall chance of having heart problems after having COVID or getting an mRNA COVID vaccine was very low across all ages and genders. These results support the continued use of mRNA COVID vaccines for all people ages 5 and older, who meet the vaccine criteria.
