Oxford University researchers have found a new way of directly quantifying vascular inflammation in COVID-19 patients, in a study that could pave the way to more efficient trials of new treatments and identify patients who might be at risk of long-term complications. The study, which was supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), … Read more
News for COVID-19
Higher risk of blood clots in COVID-19 outpatients, largely reduced after vaccination
Researchers supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) have studied the link between people diagnosed with COVID-19 as outpatients and the short-term risk of developing blood clots, and the clinical and genetic risk factors that predispose them to developing post–COVID-19 thrombosis. Ambulatory COVID-19 patients (those diagnosed as outpatients) face an increased risk of … Read more
COVID-19 vaccine protects people of all body weights from hospitalisation and death
Two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are effective against severe disease for people who are underweight, overweight, or who have obesity, new research by University of Oxford researchers has found. Obesity was flagged as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 early in the global pandemic. The UK’s vaccine programme in 2021 gave priority to people … Read more
Study highlights ongoing COVID-19 risk in some cancer patients despite vaccination
A study has found that while COVID-19 vaccination is effective in most cancer patients, the level of protection against COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation and death offered by the vaccine is less than in the general population and vaccine effectiveness wanes more quickly. The study, published in Lancet Oncology by the UK Coronavirus Cancer Evaluation Project, was co-led … Read more
OUH agrees long COVID research collaboration with Polarean
Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) and the medical imaging technology company, Polarean Imaging plc, have entered into a research collaboration to study the long-term effects of COVID-19 in patients who are still experiencing breathlessness months after infection. Polarean produce an investigational drug‑device combination product using hyperpolarised xenon gas to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pulmonary medicine. … Read more
Study finds no increased risk of rare neurological events after COVID vaccination
A study of more than eight million people has found no increased risk of rare neurological events after COVID -19 vaccination. However, the researchers did find a higher risk of Bell’s palsy (facial weakness), encephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord) and Guillain-Barré syndrome (a nerve condition) after COVID-19 infection. The study, which was … Read more
Blog: Developing a process to monitor populations at increased risk from coronavirus
Emma Pritchard is a Medical Statistician in the Modernising Medical Microbiology team at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She works in the Oxford BRC’s Antimicrobial Resistance and Modernising Microbiology Theme. In this blog, Emma explains how she used the ongoing Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey to understand the spread of coronavirus in … Read more
Brain regions related to smell show decline after mild COVID-19
University of Oxford researchers have found tissue damage and greater shrinkage in brain areas related to smell in people following mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. The researchers, who were supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) used data from UK Biobank participants to look at changes to the brain on average four and a half … Read more
RECOVERY trial finds another drug to treat hospitalised COVID-19 patients
The RECOVERY Trial, the world’s largest randomised trial of potential COVID-19 treatments, has found another drug that reduces the risk of death in hospitalised patients with the disease. The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial showed that baricitinib, an anti-inflammatory drug normally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, reduces the risk of death when given to hospitalised patients with … Read more
NIHR highlights QCOVID role in tackling pandemic
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has published a case study on QCOVID, a clinical risk prediction model, which has played a key role during the COVID-19 pandemic in identifying those people at greatest risk. QCOVID, developed with support from the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, has proved an important tool to determine which … Read more
Oxford BRC’s ability to deliver rapid COVID-19 research response highlighted
Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) researchers have highlighted how the BRC’s infrastructure gave it the agility and capacity to respond rapidly with research projects to tackle COVID-19. In a commentary published in the open access BMC Health Research Policy and Systems journal, the BRC team said the development of the Oxford AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine and the … Read more
COVID-19 blog: accelerating testing with robotics
PhD student Kevin Chau, who works in the Oxford BRC’s Antimicrobial Resistance and Modernising Microbiology Theme, has played his part in the pandemic response as part of the Modernising Medical Microbiology team at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. In this blog post written for the Medical Research Foundation, he describes the experience: The swift … Read more
Review highlights impact of Long COVID on cardiovascular system
The wide-ranging effects of long COVID and the associated issues for healthcare providers have been revealed in a new review of the major studies into the condition, which specifically highlights the impact of long COVID on the cardiovascular system. The review, published in the European Heart Journal, spans each step from a patient’s original coronavirus … Read more
Lung abnormalities found in long COVID patients with breathlessness
Researchers have identified abnormalities in the lungs of long COVID patients who are experiencing breathlessness that cannot be detected with routine tests. The EXPLAIN study, which involves teams in Oxford, Sheffield, Cardiff and Manchester, is using hyperpolarised xenon MRI scans to investigate possible lung damage in long COVID patients who have not been hospitalised with … Read more
Drug could more effectively treat patients hospitalised with COVID-19 pneumonia, research finds
A proof-of-concept trial involving Oxford researchers has identified a drug that may benefit some patients hospitalised with COVID-19 pneumonia. The CATALYST Trial tested the rheumatoid arthritis treatment namilumab as a potential therapeutic to treat patients who are hospitalised with COVID-19 pneumonia and receiving ‘usual’ care, but who also have high levels in their blood of … Read more
People with long COVID after hospitalisation face limited recovery after one year
People who were hospitalised with COVID-19 and continued to experience symptoms five months later show limited further recovery one year after hospital discharge, according to the latest results of a major national study looking at the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients The latest findings of the PHOSP-COVID study, which involves several researchers … Read more
COVID-19 infection more likely than vaccines to cause rare cardiovascular complications
Researchers have reported the results of the largest ever study to compare the risks of cardiovascular events – such as myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmia – between different vaccines and COVID-19 infection, and the first to investigate the association between cardiac events and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The study, led by University of Oxford researchers supported … Read more
RECOVERY Trial launched in South Africa
The world’s largest clinical trial investigating treatments for COVID-19 has now been launched in South Africa, with the first patient recruited today. Since March 2020, the RECOVERY Trial, which is supported by the NIHR Oxford BRC, has discovered three effective treatments for COVID-19: the inexpensive steroid dexamethasone; the arthritis drug tocilizumab; and a monoclonal antibody … Read more
Study uncovers gene that doubles risk of death from COVID-19
University of Oxford researchers have identified the gene responsible for doubling the risk of respiratory failure from COVID-19. Sixty percent of people with South Asian ancestry carry the high-risk genetic signal, which could partly explain the excess deaths seen in some UK communities, and the impact of COVID-19 in South Asia. Previous work had already identified … Read more
QCOVID study identifies vaccinated groups at highest risk hospitalisation and death
Researchers from the University of Oxford have identified which vaccinated people are at greatest risk from severe Covid-19 leading to hospitalisation or death, from 14 days after the second dose of vaccination, when substantial immunity should be expected. The research used the QCovid tool, developed in 2020 with support from the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research … Read more
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