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The Long COVID Study

Investigating the physical impact of Long COVID on ORIGINS families

The Long COVID Study is aiming to unravel the mystery around why some people get Long COVID and others don't.

Our ORIGINS children can help us to learn more. 

The Physical Impact of Long COVID

Long COVID affects up to 20% of those infected with COVID-19 and in kids this number is thought to be as high as 50%. It is a condition defined by the presence of one or more debilitating symptoms that persist longer than usually expected following COVID-19 infection. Symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain and brain-fog. Given the large numbers of COVID-infected individuals world-wide, long COVID has the potential to cause a significant health burden in years to come.

It is unclear exactly what causes Long COVID, but biochemical changes observed in people experiencing and recovering from COVID-19 may play a role.

The Long COVID Study

The ORIGINS team would like to learn more about the physical impact COVID-19 is having on our ORIGINS families and investigate how, and possibly why, some people experience Long-COVID and others don’t.

We are starting with the Children of ORIGINS.

International researchers, in countries well ahead of WA in terms of the global COVID curve, are finding that COVID is affecting the long-term physical health of some kids.

In WA we are benefiting from the hindsight of these countries who experienced the height of the pandemic earlier. We can observe what they are now discovering post-infection, and collect samples from our infected, or recently infected, families, while we are still at high-infection rates, being clearer of our intentions and what we need to investigate.

The ORIGINS Project is in a unique position, as we have collected biological samples from our ORIGINS families prior to the occurrence of COVID-19. We can now track that impact, comparing pre- and post-COVID samples and explore risk factors for COVID severity and the occurrence and prevalence of Long COVID.

Have you wondered:

  • Is there a link between how sick a person was when they contracted COVID and whether they then develop Long COVID?
  • Are males more likely to develop Long COVID, or suffer more with the infection, than females?
  • Does your blood type determine your COVID severity?
  • Why your child got COVID and you didn’t, even though you were sharing the same space? And what about your oldest child, but not your youngest?

Samples of our ORIGINS children’s blood and urine may be able to help us to answer these questions.

To investigate the biochemical changes associated with COVID, The ORIGINS Project is asking for blood and urine samples to be collected if your child becomes infected with COVID-19 or has been infected in the last three months.

What are we asking our families to do?

A. Your child had COVID in the last three months. Think ORIGINS!

Had COVID three months instructions

Contact the Long COVID team, via email or phone as above. The team will provide you with further information and will arrange for a team member or the mobile pathology service to visit your child within the week to collect a blood sample. This can be arranged at your convenience. 

The team will then contact you again 6 months after your child’s COVID infection date (not 6 months after the initial blood collection) and ask you to repeat this process once again.

B. Your child gets COVID. Think ORIGINS!

Has COVID now instructions

Your child becomes unwell and has a positive RAT or PCR result and is confirmed to have COVID – contact the Long COVID team ASAP, via email or phone as above, to let us know. The team will provide you with further information and will arrange for urine kits to be delivered so you can start daily urine collections to store in your freezer.

Once your child is COVID-free, we will arrange a convenient time for a team member or a mobile pathology service to visit your child at home to collect a blood sample and to collect the frozen urine samples. You are also welcome to visit the ORIGINS clinic in Edgewater for your blood collection.

In 6-months’ time you will be contacted by our team, and we will arrange to collect another blood sample from your child for follow-up.

NB: while we understand that blood collection from children is confronting for many families, our staff are specially trained to work with young children and will offer the use of a numbing EMLA patch which can be applied 30 to 45 mins prior to the visit to take the bloods.

Benefits to Families

  • As a thank you for your involvement, you will receive a $25 e-voucher when your samples have been collected, at both the initial collection and the follow-up = $50 in total per child.
  • As part of our research, we will measure the antibodies in your child’s blood, to see if they did develop antibodies, indicating resistance to COVID. We will also look at whether their immunity persists after 6 months. You will get the results of this analysis.
  • You will also receive a blood type report for your child.

 The Long COVID Study is made possible with the generous support of the Australian National Phenome Centre.

How will my confidentiality be protected? 

The ORIGINS team is committed to protecting the confidentiality and privacy of data and biological samples. All of your data and samples will be securely stored at access restricted buildings within The Kids Research Institute Australia under a unique ID number. The ID number is known only to a small group of researchers in ORIGINS and only they can identify the person from whom the sample came. The samples will be stored indefinitely unless you request the samples be destroyed.

Concerns?

The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Ramsay Health Care WA|SA Human Research Ethics Committee (RHC WA|SA HREC). If you have any concerns or complaints about any ethical aspect of your participation in a research project, please contact the JHC Executive Office on 08 9400 9404. Any complaint you make will be investigated by an independent party, treated in confidence, and you will be informed of the outcome.