Providence Swedish is participating in the first-of-its-kind long COVID trial. The research will help experts understand long COVID treatments and their effectiveness.
Providence Swedish infectious disease experts have joined RECOVER-VITAL, a clinical trial studying whether the drug Paxlovid, an antiviral drug used to treat mild-to-moderate COVID infections, can be used to treat the symptoms of long COVID. The RECOVER-VITAL study is the largest clinical trial to date of long COVID and part of a larger group of studies within RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) seeking to find treatments for long COVID.
Swedish is among dozens of U.S. trial sites enrolling patients into RECOVER-VITAL. Jason Goldman, M.D., M.P.H., is the primary investigator at Swedish. His team will collect participant data to help determine Paxlovid’s effectiveness at treating long COVID. Patients interested in participating in the study at Swedish’s First Hill campus can contact the team at SwedishRecoverStudy@swedish.org.
“This is a very well-designed study that is enrolling persons suffering from some of the most common symptoms of long COVID. It’s exciting to be part of the first serious trial to test treatment of long COVID,” says Dr. Goldman, who has led previous studies on COVID-19 including a study on what factors predict who gets long COVID, and the effects of COVID on organs and tissues. “This trial will give us a better understanding of the mechanism of long COVID and why treatments do or do not work.”
Long COVID is a syndrome of ongoing health conditions and symptoms which continue more than four weeks after an initial COVID infection. Patients report struggling with persistent fatigue, dizziness, brain fog and many other symptoms for months or even years after their initial recovery from COVID. According to the Household Pulse Survey published recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, more than 17% of U.S. adults — 45 million people — have reported experiencing long COVID symptoms. Among Washington State residents, statistics mirror national numbers.
“Long COVID is a unique condition because patients were the first ones to recognize it and name it,” says Dr. Goldman. “Patients initially coined the term ‘long-haulers’. We have learned a lot from patients experiencing long COVID. We still have a lot more to understand about this debilitating disease and how to treat it.”
A key factor in the study is focusing on a diverse population. “We want the participants enrolled into RECOVER-VITAL to be representative of the wider U.S. population and specifically the populations that have been most affected by COVID,” Dr. Goldman says. “Long COVID can be very debilitating and has affected so many people. RECOVER-VITAL is an important step towards finding treatments.”
We want to hear from you: Providence Swedish is currently enrolling program participants for the study at our First Hill campus. To be eligible you must be an adult who does not have an active COVID infection but is experiencing long COVID symptoms such as exhaustion, brain fog, dizziness, shortness of breath. To learn more, read this brochure or email SwedishRecoverStudy@swedish.org.
About Providence Swedish
Providence Swedish has served the Puget Sound region since the first Providence hospital opened in Seattle in 1877 and the first Swedish hospital opened in 1910. The two organizations affiliated in 2012 and today comprise the largest health care delivery system in Western Washington, with 22,000 caregivers, eight hospitals and 244 clinics. A not-for-profit family of organizations, Providence Swedish provides more than $406 million in community benefit in the Puget Sound Region each year. The health system offers a comprehensive range of services and specialty and subspecialty care in several clinical areas, including cancer, cardiovascular health, neurosciences, orthopedics, digestive health and women’s and children’s care.
