Research Summaries

Doctors keep patient information in computer files called electronic health records (EHRs). RECOVER researchers can use these records to learn more about Long COVID, which is when someone feels sick for a long time after having COVID-19. But studying these records is not easy. It can be hard to get certain information from EHRs, when things that might explain why some people get Long COVID happen at different times. It can also be hard to put information from many hospitals together in one place and can cost a lot of money. In this study, RECOVER researchers made a new tool called ODACoR, which stands for “one-shot distributed algorithms for competing risks model.” This tool was used to look at the EHRs of 6.5 million kids and teens from 8 children’s hospitals. Researchers found that ODACoR was able to find information about things that could make children and teens more likely to get Long COVID. ODACoR could also combine information from different hospitals, which did not always work with old ways of studying health information. This tool gave the same results as if all the hospitals had shared all their information in one place, which is hard to do. This study is important because it can help doctors study other kinds of health problems using information from many hospitals.

This paper talks about Long COVID in children. Long COVID is when a person still feels sick for at least 3 months after having COVID-19. This paper looks at how common it is, who gets it, what causes it, and what happens to children who have it. Researchers from the RECOVER study and other groups across the US looked at earlier studies about children and Long COVID. They put together what those studies found and think that up to 5.8 million children in the US might have Long COVID. The researchers talked about their plan for better understanding Long COVID by using RECOVER’s definition of Long COVID and what RECOVER has learned so far. Authors of this paper share that future research on Long COVID in children should do the following: 1) describe Long COVID symptoms and how they show up together in groups, 2) understand why some children get Long COVID and others don’t, 3) learn how symptoms come back when children get stressed or get COVID again, 4) find ways to stop hidden health problems from turning into long-term issues in adulthood, and 5) see if COVID vaccines can stop Long COVID from showing up. The authors of this paper also believe that more research should be done to find good treatments, test different medicines, and compare different ways to help children with Long COVID.

This RECOVER study looks at how well and how long a COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2, works in children and teens. Researchers studied this before and during the wave of a new type of COVID-19, called Omicron. Researchers looked at the electronic health records from a group of children’s health systems across the country, known as PEDSnet. They checked 3 groups: teens ages 12–20 during the earlier Delta wave; and both children ages 5–11 and teens ages 12-20 during the Omicron wave. Researchers looked at data from more than 77,000 teenagers during Delta and over 167,000 kids and teens during Omicron. Some of these kids were vaccinated, and some were not. Researchers compared those who got the first dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine to those who didn't get any COVID-19 vaccine. During Delta, researchers found that the vaccine stopped almost all the teenagers (98%) from getting sick. In the Omicron wave, the vaccine helped stop 74% of the kids and 86% of the teenagers from getting COVID-19. It also helped keep kids from getting really sick and needing to go to the hospital. Children and teens who got vaccinated were also less likely to have heart problems during Omicron. But they found that the vaccines didn’t work as well 4 months after the first dose. This information helps doctors better understand how to keep kids healthy when COVID-19 is going around.

This RECOVER study looked at why some people may have long lasting symptoms or new health problems after getting COVID-19. Researchers looked at the electronic health records of 3.7 million adults and children who were tested for COVID-19 between March 2020 and May 2021. They compared the records of people who tested positive for COVID-19 with people who did not.

The study found that both adults and children who were hospitalized with COVID-19 were more likely to have at least 1 symptom in the months after getting COVID-19, like shortness of breath. They also found that adults who were hospitalized with COVID-19 were more likely to have 3 or more symptoms, feel very tired, or develop a new health condition. Some of the conditions were diabetes, blood disorders, or diseases related to breathing. Even adults with COVID-19 who were not hospitalized had a higher chance of certain symptoms or health issues compared to those who did not have COVID-19. This study is important because it shows that COVID-19 can impact people’s health for a long time. These findings can help doctors and scientists better understand how to treat and care for people recovering from COVID-19.

Research shows that the COVID-19 vaccine lowers the chance of children getting sick from COVID-19. But it is not clear whether the COVID-19 vaccine protects against Long COVID. RECOVER researchers did a study to look at how well vaccines work in protecting children, ages 5–17, against Long COVID. They studied data from a group of more than 1 million children. The vaccine was 42% effective in lowering the chance of getting Long COVID in kids ages 5–11 and 50% effective for kids ages 12–17. The vaccine works best against Long COVID within the first 6 months of getting it. After 6 months, it does not work as well, so getting the vaccine every year is important to prevent Long COVID. These results show that the COVID-19 vaccine can help children 5 years and older to keep from getting very sick. While this study helps scientists understand how vaccines can protect against COVID-19, they still need to do more research to understand how they protect against Long COVID.

A COVID-19 infection can lead to new symptoms, or symptoms that do not go away. This condition is called Long COVID. RECOVER researchers are using tissue samples from people who died after having COVID to answer questions about Long COVID. To do this, they are studying donated samples from deceased people across the US to understand how the body changes when someone has Long COVID; what makes some people more likely to develop Long COVID, such as where a person lives and their age, race, and sex; and what happens in the body of someone who had Long COVID. This paper is important because it can show other scientists how to do their own research on Long COVID in people who have died.

Long COVID may occur in people recovering from a COVID-19 infection and often includes symptoms related to the heart and lungs, which together are called the cardiopulmonary system. These symptoms, which include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and reduced ability to do physical activity, can cause significant disability. This paper explores current knowledge about what causes Long COVID and how it affects the heart and lungs, in both adults and children. The authors also discuss how participants in the Researching COVID to Enhance RECOVERY (RECOVER) Initiative will help answer questions about the impact of Long COVID on the cardiopulmonary system. Understanding these causes and effects may help researchers discover new therapies for Long COVID symptoms. 

Having COVID-19 can lead to new symptoms, or symptoms that do not go away. This condition is called Long COVID. RECOVER researchers are working to answer questions about Long COVID in pregnant women. To do this, they are studying 2,300 pregnant women and their babies in the US to understand how often pregnant women get Long COVID; how the body changes when someone has Long COVID; what makes some people more likely to develop Long COVID, such as where a person lives and their age, race, and sex; and what happens in the body that might cause Long COVID. RECOVER researchers are also studying how COVID-19 during pregnancy affects child development. This paper is important because it can show other scientists how to do their own research on Long COVID in pregnant women.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a condition that affects different parts of the body, including the brain, the immune system, and the autonomic nervous system, which controls things like heart rate and blood pressure. Many people with Long COVID experience similar symptoms to people with ME/CFS, like feeling more tired after physical or mental effort, which is called post-exertional malaise (PEM). 

This paper summarizes how researchers can use what they have learned about ME/CFS over the past 4 decades to better understand Long COVID. Researchers have made progress in explaining and categorizing known ME/CFS symptoms and findings, coming up with new ways to test for the illness and developing more reliable and standardized assessments (tests) researchers can use. These assessments check how well a person’s body and mind are working. By building on this existing research, RECOVER scientists hope to help other researchers better define and diagnose Long COVID, determine whether someone with Long COVID is likely to get better, get worse, or stay about the same, and identify treatments that could be studied in future clinical trials. This existing research can also help scientists create specific testing tools to help them get consistent information no matter where the test is done.