NIHR Bristol BRC contributing to ground-breaking national study into long-term health impacts of coronavirus

A major UK research study into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients has been launched.

The PHOSP-COVID study has been awarded £8.4million jointly by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This study is one of a number of COVID-19 studies that have been given urgent public health research status by the Department of Health and Social Care.

Researchers from the University of Bristol and the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) – co-ordinated by Principal Investigator Nick Maskell, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Bristol Medical School – will share expertise with a national consortium of leading researchers and clinicians from across the UK to assess the impact of COVID-19 on patients’ health and their recovery.

Around 10,000 patients are expected to take part in the multi-disciplinary study led by the NIHR Leicester BRC, making it one of the largest comprehensive studies in the world to understand and improve the health of survivors after hospitalisation from COVID-19.

The PHOSP-COVID study is widely supported across the NIHR infrastructure, including the Translational Research Collaborations for respiratory, mental health, cardiovascular, dementia, and diet, exercise and nutrition, and many of the NIHR BRCs, which translate lab-based scientific breakthroughs into potential new treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies.

Bristol BRC member Dr Jonathan Evans, Consultant Senior Lecturer in the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Health and member of the NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration, said:

“Many people hospitalised by COVID-19 can be left with significant health problems, even when their initial symptoms have receded. We are looking at how the disease affects patients’ longer-term mental health, particularly mood, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and fatigue, with the aim of improving treatment pathways to help them make as full a recovery as possible.”

To follow the study as it develops, visit www.phosp.org