Skip to main content
Wolfson Institute of Population Health
  1. WIPH
  2. News
  3. Items

COVIDENCE UK study launches

The study, lead by Professor Adrian Martineau, will use data from volunteers around the UK to answer scientific questions surrounding Covid-19.

 

Published:
news image
The COVIDENCE UK study, led by Queen Mary University of London aims to recruit at least 12,000 people, aged 16 or over, from across the UK.
King’s College London, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the University of Edinburgh, Queen’s University Belfast.
The study aims to recruit as diverse a group of volunteers as possible, including those who have already had proven or suspected COVID-19 and those who have not. The team also want to include a mixture of people both with and without underlying conditions such as diabetes, lung disease, heart disease and high blood pressure. The information gathered will help scientists to understand why certain people appear to be at greater risk.

Study lead, Adrian Martineau, Professor of Respiratory Infection and Immunity at Queen Mary University of London, explains: “We know that people with certain medical conditions seem to be at increased risk of coronavirus disease. However, we don’t know why this is. Is it because people with these conditions tend to be older? Is it something to do with the underlying condition itself? Could particular medications affect the risk? Or are lifestyle factors such as smoking or different dietary patterns which tend to go along with some of these conditions important? The answers to these questions could help us to devise new strategies to reduce infection risk, while we are waiting for an effective vaccine to come along.”

Read the full story...