Research lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic: collecting longitudinal physical and mental health outcomes

Kristen Grove; Megan Harrold; Sheeraz Mohd; Varsha Natarajan; Elizabeth Hurn; Jane Pearce; Vinicius Cavalheri; Carol Watson; Dale W Edgar; LATER-19 Coinvestigator Group

doi:10.1186/s13690-021-00781-3

Research lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic: collecting longitudinal physical and mental health outcomes

Arch Public Health. 2022 Jan 4;80(1):14. doi: 10.1186/s13690-021-00781-3.

Authors

Kristen Grove¹, Megan Harrold^{2

3}, Sheeraz Mohd⁴, Varsha Natarajan⁵, Elizabeth Hurn⁶, Jane Pearce^{7

8}, Vinicius Cavalheri³, Carol Watson², Dale W Edgar^{5

9

10

11}; LATER-19 Coinvestigator Group

Collaborators

LATER-19 Coinvestigator Group:
Andrew Maiorana, Angela Jacques, Ann White, Caitlin Vicary, Carol Watson, Caroline Roffman, Emma-Leigh Synnott, Hui Jun Chih, Ian Suttie, Ivan Lin, Jade Larsson, Jessica Tearne, Linda Woodhouse, Lisa van der Lee, Louise Naylor, Mercedes Elliott, Paul Gittings, Peta Winship, Robyn Timms, Sheldon Wulff, Tracy Hebden-Todd

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, Royal Perth Hospital, Royal Perth Bentley Group, East Metropolitan Health Service, Perth, Western Australia. kristen.grove@health.wa.gov.au.
² Department of Physiotherapy, Royal Perth Hospital, Royal Perth Bentley Group, East Metropolitan Health Service, Perth, Western Australia.
³ Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia.
⁴ Department of Cardiology, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Western Australia.
⁵ Department of Physiotherapy, Fiona Stanley Hospital, South Metropolitan Health Service, Murdoch, Western Australia.
⁶ Department of Physiotherapy, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Service, Nedlands, Western Australia.
⁷ Consumer Advisory Council, Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospital Group, South Metropolitan Health Service, Murdoch, Western Australia.
⁸ Western Australian Health Translation Network, Perth, Western Australia.
⁹ Burn Injury Research Node, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Western Australia.
¹⁰ Division of Surgery, Medical School, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia.
¹¹ Fiona Wood Foundation, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Western Australia.

Abstract

Background: Participant enrolment, assessment and/or delivery of intervention in many clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic were severely impacted by public health measures limiting physical contact. This report describes the lessons learned in completing a repeated measures cohort study involving suspected and confirmed COVID-19 survivors at three sites in Perth, Western Australia.

Main body: An observational analysis of the conduct and data completeness results of the LATER-19 trial. People with COVID19 symptoms who were tested between February and November 2020 were recruited. In both those who tested positive and those who tested negative (control group) for COVID19, data on physical function and mental health were collected at two time points up to eight months after COVID19 testing. Recruitment of the controls was targeted from hospital records for comparison, it was balanced for age and sex and for the non-hospitalised group also comorbidities. A sample of 344 participants was recruited: 155 (45.1%) COVID-19 positive. Taking the research design and environmental adaptations into account, we recorded > 90% participant engagement during the trial. Of the 637 planned assessments, objective measures were completed on 602 (94.5%) occasions; 543 (90.2%) were on-site and 59 (9.8%) were remote. A total of 577 (90.6%) mental health/symptoms surveys, 569 (89.3%) 1-min sit-to-stand tests, and 520 (81.6%) handgrip strength tests were completed.

Conclusion: The sample size and high completion rate of planned assessments during the LATER-19 trial potentially increases the contextual, groupwise generalisability of the results. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple, rapid, reproducible and adaptable battery of assessments, leveraging telehealth and digital solutions.

Trial registration number: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registration (ANZCTR): ACTRN12621001067864 .

Keywords: COVID-19; Longitudinal; Mental health; Physical recovery; Public engagement; Research participation.

Publication types

Letter

Grants and funding

Not applicable/Western Australian Health Translation Network