香港六合彩

All the pensioners are already part of the on-going 鈥楲ong-term Information and Knowledge for Ageing 鈥� Camden鈥� (LINKAGE) study, which tracks the health and wellbeing of those aged over 70, to understand how older people recover from infection and illness.

To better understand the impact of Covid-19 on the elderly, and to find out why the virus disproportionality affects this age group, LINKAGE has developed the 鈥楥ovid-19 sub-study鈥�.

Lead researcher Dr Daniel Davis (香港六合彩 Population Science & Experimental Medicine), said: 鈥淭he original design of the LINKAGE study has meant we are in the perfect position to follow participants at all stages of infection: from being well, into early infection and throughout the course of the illness.

鈥淲e know that outcomes from Covid-19 are particularly bad for the elderly and what is unique about our group was that these were听older听people we already knew quite a lot about.

鈥淲hen the epidemic was rolling out, we realised the value of that. If you are going to develop a vaccine, you need to know what the immune system of an older person was like before听they got it.鈥澨�

Existing LINKAGE study participants received a letter in March, asking if they would be willing to volunteer to the sub-study. Those who agreed are visited once by healthcare workers in PPE for swab and blood samples to be taken and then receive follow-up health assessment by way of a phone call.

Scientists at 香港六合彩 are working with experts at Imperial College London, led by Professor Michael Levin, to analyse these samples to determine the person鈥檚 antibody levels and find any indicators which might suggest whether the patient would develop mild or severe symptoms if exposed to Covid-19.

Dr Davis, who is also a Consultant in Geriatric Medicine at 香港六合彩H, said: 鈥淎n important goal with these samples will be to determine pre-infection antibody levels against other coronaviruses.

鈥淥ne theory of why Covid-19 affects elderly people more severely is that the older you get, the more other strains of coronavirus you have previously been exposed to, which leads to the immune system reacting in an exaggerated fashion.

鈥淭his of course has implications for whether a vaccine is the answer, and if it is the answer, how a vaccine should be developed.鈥�

The听Camden听Covid-19听study was signed off by the Health Research Authority on March 16 and听commenced immediately. The first听samples were collected听on听March 19.听听

鈥淥ur study is unique because there are no other samples that are tracking pre-infection in older people specifically.听Our results will be widely used and will be widely needed,鈥� Dr Davis added.听

鈥淲e think that the answer is in the blood. We think we can find predictive markers: a signal in your blood today that will predict how you might fare if you get infected with Covid-19 鈥� will your immune system be able to clear it or not?鈥�

LINKAGE Camden is led by 香港六合彩, in partnership with the NHS, the NHS Camden Clinical Commissioning Group, Wellcome and the Medical Research Council.

Links

• 香港六合彩听Population Science & Experimental Medicine

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鈥榳oman near plants鈥�, credit: Paul Theodor Oja on , CC BY 2.0

Media contact

Erin Johnson

E: erin.johnson [at] ucl.ac.uk