Between leading-edge research and the region’s first clinic to specialize in treating patients with long COVID symptoms, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is at the forefront of providing care while seeking to understand this still-mysterious disease.
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This leadership has drawn the attention of Admiral Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary for health, who will visit CU Anschutz in July to learn more about our researchers’ findings about long COVID’s myriad symptoms and multi-organ impact.
In this episode of the CU Anschutz 360 podcast, we talk with Kristine Erlandson, MD, associate professor of medicine and infectious disease at the CU School of Medicine, about long COVID and the national study called RECOVER. Erlandson said long COVID remains a significant health issue with 10% to 30% of people with SARS-CoV-2 ending up with symptoms that persist for months beyond initial infection.
The study involving CU Anschutz researchers looked at nearly 10,000 adults from the RECOVER adult cohort and examined a constellation of symptoms experienced by patients. The researchers developed a scoring system to help learn which adults may have long COVID. Before this scoring system, there was no research definition of long COVID.
The goal of RECOVER is to improve understanding and the ability to predict, treat and prevent the post-acute sequelae of SARS-COV2.
CU Anschutz will participate in RECOVER clinical trials starting this summer. For more information about the clinical trials, please email recover@cuanschutz.edu.
In the podcast, Erlandson explains that CU Anschutz has also been a leader in enrolling Hispanic and other underserved populations in the long COVID studies. Colorado has also been at the forefront of rolling out telemedicine to COVID patients, as well as education about long COVID through Project ECHO Colorado.