Northumbria
University academics are part of a research team looking into the effects of Long
Covid which has won a global award from Nature.
With tens of
millions of people worldwide living with Long Covid, the researchers were keen
to bring together clinical insight with the lived experience of patients to gain a richer understanding of the causes and impacts of the condition and
the challenges patients continue to face.
The international
study led by Professor Mark Faghy at the University of Derby and involving
researchers from 18 countries has been described by the judges at the Nature Inclusive Health Research Awards
as being ‘a model for the future of health research.’
Dr Emily Hume and Dr Paul Ansdell, along with PhD students Padraig
Spillane and Elisa Pastorio, from the Department for Sport, Exercise and
Rehabilitation at Northumbria undertook cardiopulmonary
exercise testing to identify the physiological determinants of Long Covid. Participants
with Long Covid performed the exercise tests on consecutive days, while the
research team monitored the response of their heart, lungs, and muscles to
identify where impairments occurred.
The data collected at Northumbria was pooled with other
sites in the UK, USA and India to create a highly comprehensive dataset with
broad demographic representation.
The award
for the latest research follows earlier work that reviewed the long-term
cardio-respiratory and metabolic health complications associated with COVID-19
and how multidisciplinary approaches between clinical and non-clinical entities
are needed to provide effective and rehabilitative patient support pathways and
restore pre-COVID-19 quality of life and functional status. Read more about the work here.
Dr Hume said:
“With an estimated 2.2 million people in the UK and more than 65 million
globally living with Long Covid, our understanding of the condition, who may be
more susceptible to it and ultimately our ability to really support those
living with the condition is limited.
“There have
been so many different parties worldwide collaborating on this project and the
close involvement of patients has given us a really rich insight into what they
experience on a daily basis.
“Going
forward this should help lay the foundations for future work to build on how we
can better support those living with this condition.”
The team was
praised for ‘demonstrating powerfully how patient-led research delivers greater
impact’ by judges at the awards ceremony, which took place in Cape Town, South
Africa.
Mark Faghy, Professor of Clinical Science at
the University of Derby, said he was delighted to receive the award on behalf
of the Long Covid community and the research group and thanked all the
institutions that worked together as part of the project.
“The team
has worked so diligently on this research over the last four-and-a-half years
and although we are proud that our hard work has been recognised, we know that Long
Covid continues to impact the lives of so many people around the world,” he
said.
Helen
Jenson, Head of Grants and Awards at Nature, said: “The most notable quality of
this study is that it delivers two equally important things; the results are
going to give us our first genuine quantifiable insight into who is
particularly susceptible to Long Covid and potentially, why but perhaps, more
importantly, it is a model for the future of health research and the way in
which it should be done.
“It
demonstrates powerfully how patient-led research delivers greater impact and
greater benefit. Every public funding body should be paying attention to the
effectiveness of this approach.
“Professor
Faghy, his team, their patient collaborators, and their research partners
around the world are to be admired and congratulated for establishing the
standard that other UK research institutions must strive to emulate, and that
funding bodies and regulators should be expecting from them if they want to be
certain that their money is delivering the maximum public and patient
benefit.”
Nine
initiatives were shortlisted for the awards with three chosen to receive
€20,000 Euros each towards further research.
Northumbria
University is dedicated to reducing health and social inequalities,
contributing to the regional and national workforce and improving social,
economic and health outcomes for the most marginalised in society.
Through its new Centre for Health and
Social Equity, Northumbria researchers will be delivering world-leading health
and social equity research and creating innovative, evidence-based policies and
data-driven solutions to bring impactful change across the region, the UK and
globally.
For more information visit the website: www.northumbria.ac.uk/CHASE.
