Publications

STIMULATE-ICP Publications

Keep an eye on this page to find out what we have discovered so far on the STIMULATE-ICP Study. You will find links to our latest publications.

Healthcare utilisation of 282,080 individuals with long COVID over two years: a multiple matched control, longitudinal cohort analysis

28 November 2024

In a new paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the STIMULATE-ICP team led by Dr Yi Mu, Dr Ashkan Dashtban and Professor Amitava Banerjee, has investigated the healthcare utilisation and cost in individuals with long COVID at population level. The study shows that long Covid can double a patient's cost to the health service. The full paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768241288345

Supporting Long Covid Care: a webtool to facilitate help-seeking among people with Long Covid

28 October 2024

Professor Nisreen Alwan and Dr Donna Clutterbuck have published an abstract on the Supporting Long Covid Care tool which was developed using findings from the STIMULATE-ICP case finding and HI-COVE studies.

The abstract can be read in the European Journal of Public Health: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckae144.1822

Long COVID and Health Inequalities: What's Next for Research and Policy Advocacy?

02 October 2024

Professors Nisreen Alwan, Amitava Banerjee and Dr Donna Clutterbuck have contributed to a new publication on behalf of the STIMULATE-ICP consortium, which calls for a robust long covid research agenda and investment to address intersectional inequalities affecting Long Covid prevalence, recognition and care. The ‘Qualitative Long Covid Network’, organised a workshop for qualitative Long COVID researchers, charity representatives and people with Long Covid in June 2023 at which five key themes were identified from presentations, discussions and reflections.

To find out more please see: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hex.70047

Long COVID symptoms and demographic associations: A retrospective case series study using healthcare application data

28 August 2024

Prof. Amitava Banerjee, Dr David Sunkersing and team have investigated self-reported Long Covid symptoms via the "Living With" digital healthcare application and identified over 100 symptom categories, with pain (26.5%) the most prevalent. The finding have been published in JSRM Open. We recommend sustained support for Long Covid clinics and treatment plans must prioritise addressing prevalent Long Covid symptoms. Demographic factors significantly influence symptom severity, underlining the need for targeted interventions.

The article is available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20542704241274292

Prevalence, risk factors and characterisation of individuals with long COVID using Electronic Health Records in over 1.5 million COVID cases in England

8 August 2024

Our new publication (Journal of Infection) led by Professor Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis and Dr Han-I Wang is the first study to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of clinically confirmed long-COVID in the general population. We found that around 7.4% of individuals with COVID had at least one long-COVID symptom that required medical attention, and the highest proportion of long-COVID cases (22.7%) were observed among the non-hospitalised COVID individuals. You can read the full article here: https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(24)00169-5/fulltext

Vaccinations, cardiovascular drugs, hospitalisation and mortality in COVID-19 and Long COVID

27 June 2024

A new publication (International Journal of Infectious Diseases) led by Professor Banerjee and team shows the impact of vaccinations and cardiovascular drugs on hospitalisation and mortality in COVID 19 and Long Covid. Highlights:

Hospitalisation and mortality rates in COVID-19 and Long COVID were comparable.
Risk of mortality and hospitalisation were reduced with full COVID-19 vaccination.
With influenza vaccination, mortality was reduced, but not hospitalisation.

You can read the article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107155

Integrated care policy recommendations for complex multisystem long term conditions and long COVID

13 June 2024

Prof. Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis and team carried out a Delphi Study in the UK which explored how health services should manage Long COVID. The results have been published in Scientific Reports and the full paper is available here: https://rdcu.be/dKHfP

What is current care for people with Long COVID in England? A qualitative interview study

21 May 2024

The STIMULATE-ICP team has investigated current care for people with Long COVID in England through interviewing people living with Long COVID and health professionals working in this space. The results have been published in BMJ Open and you can read the full paper here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/5/e080967.full

Barriers to healthcare access and experiences of stigma: findings from a co-produced Long Covid case-finding study

18 April 2024

STIMULATE-ICP's latest publication is in publication in Health Expectations: Barriers to healthcare access: and experiences of stigma: findings from a co-produced Long Covid case-finding study. Long Covid can be a stigmatising condition, particularly in people who are disadvantaged within society. This may prevent them seeking help and could lead to widening health inequalities. This co-produced study with a Community Advisory Board of people with Long Covid aimed to understand healthcare and wider barriers and stigma experienced by people with probable Long Covid.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.14037

Accessing care for Long Covid from the perspectives of patients and healthcare practitioners: A qualitative study

14 March 2024

Long Covid is an emerging long-term condition, with those affected raising concerns about lack of healthcare support. Prof. Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis and team conducted a qualitative study to identify facilitators and barriers to healthcare access for people with Long Covid, aiming to enhance our understanding of the specific nature of these barriers and how patient experiences may vary. The results have been published in Health Expectations.

Link to paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hex.14008 (Health Expectations)

Prevalence of mental health conditions and brain fog in people with long COVID: A systematic review and meta-analysis

13 March 2024

The STIMULATE team, led by Prof. Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis, has examined the Prevalence of mental health conditions and brain fog in people with long COVID. They found an average prevalence of 9.3% of long COVID in people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the study, which reviewed 17 studies from around the world involving more than 40,000 Long COVID patients, found that the level of risk reported in the different studies varied greatly, with a range of 3% to 75%.

The study reveals that one in four people with Long Covid may experience brain fog, and one in three to four may develop anxiety or depression. The findings, published in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry, suggest that full Covid vaccination makes sufferers four times less likely to have brain fog – a term used to describe symptoms including poor concentration, feeling confused and cognitive impairment.

Link to paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163834324000392 (General Hospital Psychiatry)

Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Characterization of Individuals with Long COVID Using Electronic Health Records in Over 1.5 Million COVID Cases in England

10 January 2024

STIMULATE-ICP's latest publication is available in ISPOR journal, Value in Health: "Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Characterization of Individuals with Long COVID Using Electronic Health Records in Over 1.5 Million COVID Cases in England" . Long-COVID has a significant and long-lasting impact on individuals' health and well-being. This study uses electronic health records in England to describe the prevalence of long-COVID symptoms among individuals seeking medical attention and explores the risk factors for having long-COVID.

Link to paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1098301523041839?via%3Dihub (Value in Health)

Delphi Study Results in Pre-Print

20 December 2023

In Pre-print: Integrated Care Priorities for Complex, Multi-System, Long-Term Conditions and for Long COVID: Results of the STIMULATE-ICP-Delphi Study Among UK Patients and Healthcare Providers

Link to paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4498395

Patients at the centre: integrating primary and community care

15 December 2023

The House of Lords Integration of Primary and Community Care Committee has published its report 'Patients at the centre: integrating primary and community care', which was contributed to by STIMULATE-ICP's Delphi team, led by Professor Christina van der Feltz- Cornelis at the University of York. The report highlights the need for a "seamlessly integrated patient-centric healthcare sector where patients are given the type of care they need, when, where, and how they need it."

You can read the full report here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5804/ldselect/ldcareint/18/18.pdf (PDF)

A summary of the report and alternative formats can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/649/integration-of-primary-and-community-care-committee/news/198938/integration-is-key-to-health-service-improvement-says-lords-committee/

Pathways to care for Long COVID and for long term conditions from patients' and clinicians' perspective

4 December 2023

New STIMULATE-ICP publication in the Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, "Pathways to care for Long COVID and for long term conditions from patients' and clinicians' perspective".

Link to publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jebm.12563

Pre-Print: Healthcare Utilisation of 282,080 Individuals with Long COVID

19 October 2023

New STIMULATE-ICP paper in pre-print: Healthcare Utilisation of 282,080 Individuals with Long COVID Over Two Years: A Multiple Matched Control Cohort Analysis.

Link to paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4598962

In Pre-Print: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Characterisation of Individuals with Long COVID

27 September 2023

STIMULATE-ICP new publication in pre-print: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Characterisation of Individuals with Long COVID Using Electronic Health Records in Over 1.5 Million COVID Cases in England

Link to publication: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4515876

Integrated Care Pathways: A New Approach for Integrated Care Systems

1 September 2023

STIMULATE-ICP's new analysis piece has been published in the British Journal of General Practice: Integrated Care Pathways: a New Approach for Integrated Care Systems.

Link to article: https://bjgp.org/content/73/734/422

Long Covid Active Case Finding Study Protocol in Publication

20 July 2023

STIMULATE-ICP's new study protocol has been published in PLOS ONE: STIMULATE-ICP: Long Covid active case finding study protocol: A co-produced community-based pilot within the STIMULATE-ICP study (Symptoms, Trajectory, Inequalities and Management: Understanding Long-COVID to Address and Transform Existing Integrated Care Pathways)

Link to article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284297

Thousands of people in the UK are out of work due to long COVID

22 May 2023

STIMULATE-ICP's Professor Nisreen Alwan reflects on the impact of Long Covid on employment in this opinion piece for The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-people-in-the-uk-are-out-of-work-due-to-long-covid-200297

Learning from long COVID: integrated care for multiple long-term conditions

27 April 2023

STIMULATE-ICP's Professor Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis, Dr Melissa Heightman and Dr Gail Allsopp publish editorial on integrated care for multiple long-term conditions in the British Journal of General Practice.

Website: https://bjgp.org/content/73/730/196

PDF: https://bjgp.org/content/bjgp/73/730/196.full.pdf

Neurological Dysfunction in Long COVID Should Not Be Labelled as Functional Neurological Disorder

18 March 2023

STIMULATE-ICP's Professor Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis and Professor David Strain have published a new article in Viruses, "Neurological Dysfunction in Long COVID Should Not Be Labelled as Functional Neurological Disorder":

Website: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/3/783

PDF: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/3/783/pdf

Stolen Lives: The Reality of Living with Long Covid

28 February 2023

STIMULATE-ICP's team of patient advisors have published an entirely patient-led, designed and written e-book detailing their experiences of living with Long Covid: Stolen Lives: The Reality of Living with Long Covid: https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/stolen-lives-reality-living-long-covid-coronavirus-anxiety-gp/153867/

The full e-book can be downloaded here.

STIMULATE-ICP Trial Structured Protocol Paper

15 February 2023

STIMULATE-ICP new publication in PLOS ONE: STIMULATE-ICP: A pragmatic, multi-centre, cluster randomised trial of an integrated care pathway with a nested, Phase III, open label, adaptive platform randomised drug trial in individuals with Long COVID: A structured protocol: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272472

Multi-organ impairment and long COVID: a 1-year prospective, longitudinal cohort study

14 February 2023

COVERSCAN 1 year follow-up study published in JRSM: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01410768231154703

STIMULATE-ICP Delphi Study Protocol published in PLOS ONE

30 November 2022

STIMULATE-ICP's Delphi Study Protocol has been published in PLOS ONE (Symptoms, Trajectory, Inequalities and Management: Understanding Long-COVID to Address and Transform Existing Integrated Care Pathways Delphi): Study protocol