The Research Luxembourg has announced the launch of "CoVaLux", a comprehensive study aimed at addressing vaccination and the longer-term health impact of COVID-19 in Luxembourg population.
The CoVaLux research programme will assess the short- to mid-term impact of vaccination, vaccine effectiveness, post-vaccination and breakthrough infections. The study will also investigate the evolution of the immune response, the emergence of new variants and clinical symptoms in cases of re-infection. An additional objective will be to identify both the viral factors associated with resistance to vaccines and patient characteristics that can be linked to re-infections.
According to Research Luxembourg, more than 25,000 individuals in Luxembourg are estimated to be affected by Long COVID, an emerging long-term medical condition characterised by persisting COVID-19 related symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, headaches, muscle pain, shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste, but also cognitive impairment as well as cardiac and gastrointestinal complications.
“The significant public health burden of the pandemic on the Luxembourg population is shifting from that of a purely infectious disease to that of a de-facto chronic infection, which also more broadly extends to the psychological and socio-economic sphere. It needs to be addressed,” said Dr Guy Fagherazzi, Director of the Department of Precision Health at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and co-spokesperson of CoVaLux.
CoVaLux will elucidate several aspects such as the characteristics and prevalence of symptoms in COVID-19 patients, the existence of risk factors for developing Long COVID, potential links to pre-existing comorbidities or co-infections. Socio-economic and environmental determinants of Long COVID will be examined as well, in view of enhancing its prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
CoVaLux will build on previous national studies such as Predi-COVID and CON-VINCE, and rely on complementary data retrieved from different sources. Medico-administrative data together with health and socio-economic information on COVID-19, vaccination and Long COVID will be obtained through regular national population-based surveys and questionnaires. New biological samples and data on post-vaccination infections and re- infections will also be collected through the recruitment of participants, first appointments are scheduled for the next days. A long-term digital follow-up of patients enrolled in Long COVID consultations will be carried out among the population to collect information about patient outcomes during and after Long COVID care, focusing on patients with severe symptoms. Psychological health data will also be collected.
“CoVaLux represents a coordinated effort at the national level to answer important unsolved questions related to COVID-19 and its consequences, relying on an interdisciplinary approach at the crossroads of immunology, psychology, epidemiology, digital health, social science and public health,” said Prof Wilmes, Professor in Systems Ecology at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg and co-spokesperson of CoVaLux.
CoVaLux is a research programme led by Research Luxembourg in cooperation with a consortium of national players including the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the University of Luxembourg (uni.lu), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL), the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS), the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL), the Centre Hospitalier Neuro-Psychiatrique (CHNP), the Rehazenter (Centre National de Rééducation Fonctionnelle et de Réadaptation) and Mondorf Domaine Thermal. The programme is supported by the Luxembourg Government.
