Researchers lead £11m projects to investigate Long Covid

Professor Nishi Chaturvedi (MRC Unit for Lifelong Health & Ageing at UCL) and Professor Sir Terence Stephenson (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) are leading two new studies on Long Covid announced by the UK Government today. Professor Chaturvedi's project, awarded £9.6 million from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will use data from 60,000 people over three years to help define what Long Covid is and improve diagnosis. Professor Stephenson's study, awarded £1.36 million, will study Long Covid in 11- to 17-year-olds. They are among four major studies funded by NIHR and UKRI to help improve understanding of the causes, symptoms and treatment of the longer-term effects of Covid-19 in people who have not become unwell enough to be admitted to hospital. Professor Chaturvedi's study will seek to explain why some people get the condition, the typical effects on a person's health and ability to work, and the factors that affect recovery. She said: "The sad thing is, we know very little about Long Covid at the moment and that really underlines the need for new research. "By taking a whole population perspective, including hard-to-reach groups, we hope to understand the enduring consequences of Covid-19 and inform best practice for all of us." Researchers will analyse data from a combination of national anonymised electronic health records and ongoing longitudinal studies of people of all ages in the UK (including four cohort studies hosted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) .