RIVM launches platform for people suffering from Long COVID

People struggling with long-lasting and chronic issues related to the coronavirus can now track their complaints on a new platform. With the site postcovidonderzoek.nl, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) wants to gain a better understanding of these conditions, which are known as post-COVID or long-COVID.

Patients can use the portal from Friday onwards to share "which complaints they have, how many times these complaints occur, and how they change over time."

The patients can also fill in which medication they are using. Every three months, they are sent a questionnaire, which researchers will use to see how their conditions are developing. Participants could be approached via the portal with the question of whether they would like to participate in other studies.

Patient organizations PostCovid NL, Long Covid Nederland, and Kinderen met Long Covid, translated to Children with Long Covid in English, are happy with the service's arrival. "Central registration for research and monitoring of people—adults and children—with post-COVID will help to get a better picture," PostCovidNL director Diewke de Haen said.

She thinks that there should be a way to treat the complaints. "People have, in some cases, been waiting in a dark room for four years waiting for it to get better. That just can't be; these people want their lives back."

It is unknown just how many people still have complaints from their coronavirus infection. Some effects include patients getting tired very quickly and out of breath, as well as struggling with memory and concentration.