Nearly $470M will be spent on unprecedented US study of 'long COVID' in ...

Nearly $470M will be spent on unprecedented US study of 'long COVID' in ...
Nearly $470M will be spent on unprecedented US study of 'long COVID' in ...

The National Institutes of Health awarded nearly $470million to support studies among tens of thousands of Americans that will investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19.

The initiative, named RECOVER — Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery — aims to better understand a condition known as long COVID, where symptoms of the illness persist long after infection in some cases.

Researchers also hope to understand why some some individuals develop new or returning symptoms after recovering from COVID. 

RECOVER initiative was first launched in February and utilizes grant funds provided to scientists from Congress, according to CBS News.

The National Institutes of Health awarded nearly $470million to support studies among tens of thousands of Americans that will investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19

The National Institutes of Health awarded nearly $470million to support studies among tens of thousands of Americans that will investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19

NIH Director Francis Collins (pictured) says the studies aim to determine the cause of long COVID and find ways to prevent the 'often-debilitating condition'

NIH Director Francis Collins (pictured) says the studies aim to determine the cause of long COVID and find ways to prevent the 'often-debilitating condition'

The initiative has given the award to New York University Langone Health which will serve as the core institution for the new research. 

NYU will then divvy up the federal money to fund more than 100 researchers located at institutions nationwide. 

The studies would include adult, pregnant and pediatric populations and attempt to find the prevalence of long-term effects from the infection, the range of symptoms and potential treatment and prevention strategies, among other things.

'These studies will aim to determine the cause and find much needed answers to prevent this often-debilitating condition and help those who suffer move toward recovery,' said NIH Director Francis Collins in a statement on Wednesday.

RECOVER will allow experts to build a 'meta-cohort' that would include thousands of COVID survivors of various ages and backgrounds who continue to experience symptoms more than a month after their initial infection.

The most common prolonged symptoms include pain, headaches and fatigue, but the condition has been linked to a higher risk of kidney problems as well as smell distortions in other studies. 

The NIH announced the grant for RECOVER on Wednesday. The initiative has given the award to New York University Langone Health which will serve as the core institution for the new research

The NIH announced the grant for RECOVER on Wednesday. The initiative has given the award to New York University Langone Health which will serve as the core institution for the new research

Doctors do not know what causes long COVID. There are several theories already, including one that argues the virus continues to hide in the body and another that suggests long COVID may results from immune system overdrive.

'The only way we're going to sort this out is with very large studies that collect lots and lots of data about symptoms, physical findings, and laboratory measures,' Collins told reporters during a Wednesday press briefing. 

Enrollment in RECOVER's new studies is expected to begin in the coming months.

Researchers aim to include 30,000 to 40,000 people in the studies, which is a significantly larger pool than the 5,000 to 8,000 people typically included in these types of cohort studies.

'We're being a lot more ambitious here. And starting this off, kicking it

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