OU Health is projected to receive more than $1 million to participate in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative to better understand the longterm effects of COVID-19 infection.

Enrollment in the study begins soon, and researchers will follow participants for up to four years.

The NIH launched the RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) Initiative to learn why some people have prolonged symptoms (often referred to as “long COVID”) or develop new or returning symptoms after the acute phase of infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The most common symptoms include pain, headaches, fatigue, “brain fog,” shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, fever, chronic cough and sleep problems.

“This is a unique opportunity to be part of a nationwide study that investigates the impact of post-acute sequelae from SARS-CoV-2 infection, which includes long COVID,” said Timothy VanWagoner, PhD, co-principal investigator of the study for OU Health.

“In other viral infections, you rarely see long-term symptoms at the rate we have seen with COVID-19.”