“The study aims to identify the clinical, epidemiological and socio-demographic characteristics, as well as specific biomarkers from both the SARS CoV-2 virus and the patient, which can help predict the way the disease will evolve in a given individual,” LIH said in a statement.

For the project, the research team has started to establish a group of people in Luxembourg over the age of 18 that were newly diagnosed. 

In addition to this Predi-Covid research, a parallel Predi-Covid-H study was launched which includes members of the same household as covid-positive participants in order to further investigate transmission. 

Over a period of 14 days, the evolution of symptoms as well as the general health of participants is recorded on a daily basis and with the help of various digital tools. Moreover, brief additional evaluations are carried out monthly for a period of up to one year in order to better understand long-term consequences.

The recruitment and data/sample collection process started on 5 May and was supposed to last until December 2020, although an extension until June 2021 is planned. 

Preliminary results 

Since the beginning of the recruitment process and until 10 November, 1,406 eligible participants have been contacted in order to be included in Predi-Covid and 67 in Predi-Covid-H, with 556 agreeing to participate in the former and 48 in the latter. The average age of participants is 39. 

The team has been establishing a unique biobank of samples in order to better understand the novel virus, which already includes 627 specimens collected during baseline and follow-up visits. 

The preliminary findings reveal that the majority of participants experienced few or mild symptoms. The most common symptoms included fever (26.2%), cough (23.3%), runny nose (12.2%) and sore throat (10.8%), while the most common risk factors were smoking (18.1% of participants), asthma (5.4%), diabetes (4.7%), chronic heart disease (3.6%) and obesity (3.3%).

“We are delighted with the results obtained thus far. We would like to encourage all individuals who recently tested positive for covid-19 to take part in the study, since the greater the number of participants the more accurate the final results. Besides, we are now collaborating with the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg to envisage the inclusion of up to 100 covid-19 positive children in Predi-Covid and up to 30 children from affected households in Predi-Covid-H,” said professor Markus Ollert, director of the LIH department of infection and immunity and co-principal Investigator of the Predi-Covid study.

The complete protocol of the Luxembourgish cohort study was published on 24 November in the British Medical Journal Open enabling research in Luxembourg to once again position itself on an international scale.