COVID-19 Research Infrastructure Platform for Children and Adolescents (coverCHILD)

Project description

The Network University Medicine (NUM) 2.0 sub-project coverCHILD deals with the unique situation of children, young people and their families in times of the corona pandemic. It is about understanding how children and young people have come through the pandemic so far - health-wise, emotionally and socially -, what support they need now and how their health needs and interests can be protected in future crises.

The objectives of coverCHILD are in particular to create a solid evidence base across 10 work packages (WP) through literature-based systematic reviews, data generation and exchange and exemplary data analyses. Within coverCHILD, WP3 and WP4 cover aspects regarding post-COVID ME/CFS in particular.

WP3: Prevention and intervention infrastructure for children and young people

Increasingly long waiting lists in child psychiatric clinics reflect the psychological burden that the pandemic represents for children, adolescents and their parents. For some children, pilot data indicate that long-term somatic consequences of the virus, such as ME/CFS, pose additional challenges. It is therefore essential for NUM to supplement the study platform for adults (NAPKON-TIP) with a cooperative and sustainable infrastructure for testing prevention and intervention measures in children and adolescents. To this end, the pediatric and child and adolescent psychiatric university clinics in Germany and other institutions will pool their multi-professional expertise in coverCHILD.

WP4: Digital solutions for integrative intersectional care

​It is urgently necessary to integrate young patients into interdisciplinary, intersectional care in order to offer them the best possible care and, for example, to support them in the uptaking of important therapies. To do this, the investigators need to identify their living conditions in order to understand somatic and psychological symptoms in their specific living environment and to provide individually adapted care. In this work package, coverCHILD therefore offers digital solutions to improve cooperation between children, adolescents, their families and healthcare providers. Based on the results of WP2 and WP6, the continuous assessment of symptoms for treatment evaluation in WP3, and the continuous integration of symptoms into the CODEX platform (WP9, COMPASS22), the digital solutions could enable screening and long-term monitoring of somatic and psychological symptoms at home. Due to the special nature of pediatric care, coverCHILD will complement the NAPKON-TIP, CollPan and Connect4Covid networks and extend its expertise in digital solutions to children and adolescents.

(Description adapted from project website: see link above)