The VALIANT (COVID-19 in Older Adults: A Longitudinal Assessment) study is currently underway across Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS). The goal of the study is to learn about the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the health outcomes that matter most to older adults, including physical function, cognition, and freedom from burdensome symptoms. Investigators will follow 500 older patients from hospitalization with COVID-19 for six months after discharge.
"Older adults have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but little is known about the long-term health outcomes of older adults who have survived COVID,” said Lauren Ferrante, MD, MHS, assistant professor (pulmonary, critical care & sleep medicine). “By following older COVID survivors longitudinally after hospital discharge, the VALIANT study will help us learn about their long-term health outcomes in multiple domains - functional, cognitive, psychological, symptomatic, and metabolic, among others.”
The study is led by Andrew Cohen, MD, DPhil, assistant professor (geriatrics); Ferrante; and Alexandra Hajduk, PhD, MPH, associate research scientist (geriatrics).
Other investigators across Yale School of Medicine such as Kasia Lipska, MD, MHS, BS; Ania Jastreboff, MD, PhD; Evelyn Hsieh Donroe, MD, PhD; and Brienne Miner, MD, MHS; will conduct sub-studies on function and quality of life after COVID in their areas of expertise, as well as an evaluation of bone and metabolic outcomes. The study is being conducted through the Yale Program on Aging and is funded by the National Institute on Aging.
The study is already enrolling at Yale New Haven and Bridgeport Hospitals. The study will expand across the remaining YNHHS hospitals in October and November 2020. All patients aged 60 and older who are hospitalized with COVID may be screened for eligibility.
For more information on the study, please contact the VALIANT study team at valiant.study@yale.edu.
The study is being conducted through the Yale Program on Aging and is funded by the National Institute on Aging Pepper Center grant P30 AG021342-18S1 PI: Gill, Thomas .