Still Suffering COVID-19 Symptoms? UCLA Wants To Study You

LOS ANGELES, CA — Very little is known about the potential long-term impacts of a COVID-19 infection, but researchers at UCLA are hoping to get some answers with a nationwide study. UCLA researchers are seeking nearly 5,000 volunteers for an online study about the impacts of the coronavirus. In particular, they are interested in in COVID-19 survivors known as "longhaulers" who continue to battle health issues long after they were infected.

"Participants enrolling in this study will be contributing valuable insight for the future care and long-term understanding of people whose health has been affected by COVID-19," said Raul Moreno, who is helping to coordinate the UCLA/Los Angeles area portion of the study.

Some longhaulers have reported symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, headaches and joint pain long after the infection subsided.

"In this study, we are asking eligible individuals to share their health information so that researchers and doctors can better understand and improve the long-term clinical care for patients with ongoing health issues post COVID-19 infection," said Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and principal investigator at the UCLA site.

Participants will be asked to complete brief online surveys every three months for 1 1/2 years, with researchers looking closely at the participants' self-reported and medically documented physical and mental function, including neurocognitive function and chronic fatigue.

Those interested in participating must be 18 or older, have been tested for COVID-19 within the previous 42 days with either positive or negative test results and not have had a prior COVID-19 diagnosis, had symptoms known to be associated with COVID-19 such as headache and fatigue at the time of testing and have access to an internet-connected device such as a smartphone, tablet or computer to complete online surveys.

The study will be conducted in English and Spanish under the umbrella of INSPIRE (Innovative Support for Patients with SARS COV-2 Infections Registry), a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded project, and led by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Other participating medical centers include the University of California San Francisco, the University of Washington, Yale New Haven Health, the University of Texas Houston, the University of Texas Southwestern and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

More information is available at https://inspirecovidstudy.med.ucla.edu/.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.