Publications
Determining the Efficacy, Feasibility, and Impact of Storage Conditions on At-Home Blood Collection Kits for Proteomic Studies
Postacute At-home blood collection kits have the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of blood collection for diagnostic or research purposes by reducing the cost and burden on participants, researchers, or physicians and eliminating the need for a phlebotomist, specialized equipment, and on-site processing. These kits have shown to be effective for studying specific blood metabolites and proteins, but for analyses targeting the entire proteome, their effectiveness is unknown. For this study, data on human serum proteome was compared when blood was capillary-collected with a Tasso+ device (Tasso Inc.) versus the gold-standard venous samples drawn by a trained phlebotomist. Analyses were conducted using the SomaScan 7K assay (SomaLogic Inc.), which assesses the levels of nearly 7,600 serum proteins. Additionally, duplicate Tasso+ blood samples were also subjected to a variety of pre-processing storage temperatures and times to mimic the effects of shipping samples from participants on the serum proteome compared to baseline samples. Minimal differences were seen between the serum proteome results of capillary and venous blood for all participants. Delays in processing of greater than 48 hours led to large changes in detected protein levels throughout the serum proteome, while lower holding temperatures (refrigeration at >4°C) pre-processing decreased the amount of change in the serum proteome. Overall, it was determined that when processed immediately, capillary blood gives similar results to venous blood, while minimizing the time (<48 hrs) and temperature (<4°C) can minimize the serum proteome changes in samples collected by at-home blood collection kits and detected by the 7K assay.
Determining the incidence, risk factors and biological drivers of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as part of the constellation of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) outcomes in the Arizona CoVHORT-GI: a longitudinal cohort study
Postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) are extensive. Also known as long COVID, primary outcomes reported are neurologic, cardiac and respiratory in nature. However, several studies have also reported an increase in gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and syndromes following COVID-19. This study of PASC will include extensive analyses of GI symptoms, determine if people with pre-existing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are at higher risk of developing PASC generally or PASC-GI, and which biomarkers are impacted and to what degree. This R01 study is being funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (1R01DK135483-01) from 2023 to 2028.
Concordance between self-reported SARS-CoV-2 positivity and laboratory-confirmed positivity
This paper examined how closely CoVHORT participants’ reported illness dates matched their laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 test dates. Working with the Arizona Department of Health Services, and using secure data-sharing agreements, we compared responses from a subset of participants. We found that 82.5% reported an illness date within seven days of their lab test—showing excellent accuracy. For those outside that range, being over age 55 and a longer time between testing and completing the survey were key factors. To our knowledge, this is the only published study comparing self-reported COVID-19 illness dates with lab data. Many studies on CoVID and Long CoVID rely on participants sharing information on when they became sick. The results confirm that CoVHORT participants provide highly reliable information, strengthening the overall quality of the study.
Pre-existing conditions associated with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19
- Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) has been increasingly observed to occur in patients who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2
- To date, it is not known which comorbidities may increase an individual’s risk of developing PASC.
- In our longitudinal cohort study, we found that those with autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, or multiple sclerosis were significantly more likely to develop PASC following SARS-CoV-2 infection than individuals without these comorbidities.
Persisting gastrointestinal symptoms and post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome following SARS-CoV-2 infection: results from the Arizona CoVHORT
The latest research from the Arizona CoVHORT followed persons with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from May 2020 through October 2021 in order to determine how acute gastrointestinal symptoms (GI) persist following COVID-19. It’s important to understand if there’s an association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistent GI symptoms because these symptoms can have considerable impacts to a person’s quality of life and result in a diagnosis of long-term GI disorders like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). We found that persons with GI symptoms during their acute COVID-19 infection had a 4 times higher odds of persistent GI symptoms 45 days or more after infection. These GI symptoms lasted 8 months on average following initial acute infection and 30% had symptoms consistent with an IBS diagnosis. We also discovered that this relationship was modified by pre-existing conditions – if a person had no pre-existing conditions they had an 8 times higher odds of persistent GI symptoms, those with at least one had a 3 times higher odds. You can read more about our results in this article!
Elucidating symptoms of COVID-19 illness in the Arizona CoVHORT: a longitudinal cohort study
The most commonly reported symptoms of acute COVID-19 in the Arizona CoVHORT were fatigue (82.2%), headache (74.6%), aches, pains or sore muscles (66.3%), loss of taste or smell (62.8) and cough (61.9%). COVID-19-positive participants were more likely than negative participants to experience loss of taste and smell, bone or nerve pain, headache, nausea, or diarrhea. When comparing confirmed COVID-19 cases with either confirmed negative or untested participants, the pattern of symptoms for those with SARS-CoV-2 infection are different from symptoms from other potential circulating pathogens.
SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent changes in the menstrual cycle among participants in the Arizona CoVHORT Study
We observed 16% of the participants in our sample reported changes to their menstrual cycle after having a COVID-19 infection. The most commonly reported changes were: irregular menstruation (60%), increase in premenstrual syndrome symptoms (PMS) (45%), and infrequent menstruation (35%). Those participants who reported changes to their menstrual cycle were more likely to report a greater number of Covid-19 symptoms, including fatigue, headache, body aches and pains, and shortness of breath and to identify as Hispanic when compared to those who reported no changes to their menstrual cycle.
Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 in a non-hospitalized cohort: Results from the Arizona CoVHORT
In this manuscript, we sought to examine the clinical presentation and duration of illness of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or long-COVID, among participants of the CoVHORT who where not hospitalized for their acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. As of February 24, 2021, there were 303 participants in the CoVHORT who had reported a positive test result and having had COVID-19. Among these 303 individuals, 208 (68.7%) participants reported still experiencing at least one symptom 30 days after their COVID-19 diagnosis and were classified as having PASC, or long-COVID.
Design of the Arizona CoVHORT: A Population-Based COVID-19 Cohort
This manuscript describes a scalable study design that utilizes a wide range of recruitment sources, leveraging electronic data collection to capture and link longitudinal participant data on the current and emerging issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.