Using the best science to find answers
RECOVER researchers at study sites across the country all use the same set of protocols, or study plans, for each type of study. Using the same study plans helps us get answers to important questions faster because it allows us to easily combine the data from the different study locations and get more answers for more people in a shorter time.
Are you a clinician?
Share RECOVER observational study recruitment materials in your clinic.
RECOVER Research Protocols
Each type of RECOVER study has a specific protocol.
As part of the protocols, people taking part in RECOVER studies may have different tests or measurements depending on their personal health, their symptoms, and their past experiences. Clinical trial studies also test different types of treatments for their effects on Long COVID.
RECOVER research protocols may change when researchers learn more about post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). Changes to the research protocols will be listed in the latest versions of the protocol and posted to their RECOVER website.
Adult Study Protocol: Understanding the Long-Term Impact of COVID in Adults
This study will last up to 4 years. In total, about 17,700 people will be in the adult study, of which about 2,450 will be pregnant people. This includes about 15,000 people who have had COVID. We will also include about 2,700 people who never had COVID. How long each person is in the study depends on when they join the study.
Version Approved December 15, 2022
Study Instruments
The following Study Instrument files list the questions used in RECOVER studies, by topic. The specific questions asked of each study participant, at each visit, will vary depending on their clinical history and their responses to earlier questions.
View Hide the Study QuestionsThe questions are presented here in English, but are also available in Spanish, Chinese, or Arabic upon request.
Alcohol and Tobacco Questions (PDF, 34.8 KB)
COVID Treatment Questions (PDF, 33.5 KB)
Demographic Questions (PDF, 35.1 KB)
Disability Questions (PDF, 26.9 KB)
Medical History Questions (PDF, 56 KB)
PASC Symptoms Questions (PDF, 83.6 KB)
Pregnancy Questions (PDF, 41.2 KB)
Social Determinants of Health Questions (PDF, 52 KB)
Vaccine Status Questions (PDF, 30.3 MB)
Source of the RECOVER Study Instrument Questions
Question libraries are used so that researchers working on many studies will ask the same questions of participants. In this way, the research findings from all the studies can be more easily compared. RECOVER used existing questionnaires and question libraries to create many of its questions. The file below lists the source of each question used on RECOVER. The list does not include clinical measurements or laboratory tests that may also be used on other studies.
Adult Survey Question Library (XLXS, 61 KB)
Pediatric Study Protocol: Understanding the Long-Term Impact of COVID in Children and Families
This study will last up to 4 years and will involve up to 20,000 pairs of people, called dyads. The pairs will be children or young adults (ages newborn to 25 years) and their primary caregivers. This will include 800 children with MIS-C, or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, and 200 children and young adults with a history of post-COVID vaccine-associated myocarditis. How long each person is in the study depends on when they join the study.
Version Approved March 1, 2022
Human Tissue Pathology (Autopsy) Study Protocol: Understanding the Long-Term Effects of COVID
This study will examine body tissues from people who died after having COVID to understand how and why COVID affects people’s bodies. The study will include body tissues from a diverse group of about 700 people across age, sex, and race/ethnic groups. Researchers will study body tissues from three groups of people:
-
Two of these groups will be (1) people who were not hospitalized and died 30 days or more after their COVID symptoms started, or (2) people who were hospitalized and died 30 days or more after they were discharged from the hospital.
- Of these two groups, one group will include body tissues from about 400 people who had PASC, including Long COVID.
- The other group will include body tissues from about 200 people who had COVID but did not develop PASC, including Long COVID.
- The third group will be about 100 people who had short-term COVID and died between 15 and 30 days after infection.
Autopsy examinations of people whose body tissues are included in this study must be performed within 24 hours of the person’s death.
Version Approved February 7, 2022
studies.recoverCOVID.org