Arizona CoVHORT research study receives award to continue investigation of long COVID

A longitudinal research study of COVID-19 and post-COVID conditions at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, named the CoVHORT study, was awarded funding from the Arizona Biomedical Research Centre, part of the Arizona Department of Health Services, to continue the investigation of long COVID symptoms, post-COVID health impacts and treatments.

“We have more than 8,800 Arizonans enrolled in the CoVHORT study and we have a great team of researchers, staff and students. The data we’re collecting shows that more than 30 percent of people infected with COVID experience long COVID, or post-COVID conditions,” said epidemiologist Kristen Pogreba-Brown, PhD, MPH, one of the lead researchers on the study and associate professor in the UArizona Zuckerman College of Public Health. “This new funding from the Arizona Biomedical Research Center will help us continue the study and understand what treatments work best in the fight against long COVID in Arizona.”

The Arizona Biomedical Research Centre was created by Arizona citizens who had the foresight to set aside tobacco and lottery revenue to identify and support innovative biomedical research that will improve the health of all Arizonans. ABRC provides direct grants to biomedical researchers and will provide $225 thousand over three years to support the CoVHORT research study and improve our response to long COVID and post-COVID conditions here in Arizona and nationally.

Because ABRC is part of the Arizona Department of Health Services, the funds will also facilitate collaboration with ADHS to use the knowledge gained from the CoVHORT data to guide the medical and public health response to long COVID and post-COVID conditions in Arizona.

“Arizona was hit hard by the pandemic, and we are first in the nation for COVID-19 deaths per capita,” said Dr. Pogreba-Brown. “This new ABRC funding helps us address the diverse rural and cultural populations that are unique to our state, to look at biomedical and social risk factors, and to translate the data into practice and treatments.”

Dr. Pogreba Brown leads the CoVHORT research team that includes faculty, staff and students from colleges across the UArizona Health Sciences campus, including the Zuckerman College of Public Health, College of Medicine – Tucson and the College of Medicine – Phoenix, as well as the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Researchers additionally funded by this ABRC grant include Zuckerman College of Public Health faculty members Kacey Ernst, PhD, MPH, and Leslie Farland, ScD, MSc, and Megan Jehn, PhD, MHS, from ASU.

“I’m so impressed by Dr. Pogreba-Brown and our public health researchers who jumped into action right away when COVID hit and launched the CoVHORT study,” said Iman Hakim, MD, PhD, MPH, dean of the Zuckerman College of Public Health. “The study has already provided so much valuable knowledge. What we learn from this research on long COVID is going to help millions of people, and that’s what public health is all about.”