Post-COVID app for patients, practices and clinical departments

Under the leadership of the Jena University Hospital, a research network is developing a mobile application that records the complaints and well-being of post-COVID patients. The app is intended to transmit this data to the treating practices and clinical departments, where it will support diagnostics and therapy and provide personalised re-registration. The Federal Ministry of Health is funding the project with three million euros. 

Safe test procedures were developed very quickly for acute COVID-19 infections, and reliable recommendations are now available for treatment. The long-term consequences known as post-COVID, on the other hand, are still poorly understood. Due to the wide range of symptoms, this disease is difficult to diagnose and differentiate from others. In addition, post-COVID significantly restricts performance, making time-consuming examinations and frequent visits to the doctor particularly stressful for those affected. The illness therefore requires new care concepts, which are the subject of intensive research.

A research project that has now been launched aims to use smartphones and wearable fitness trackers for more precise diagnostics and more individualised patient care. "We want to develop a mobile application that can collect reliable data on physiological, behavioural and subjective complaints and make it available to the doctors treating patients," says Prof. Dr Nils Opel from Jena University Hospital, explaining the aim of the research network he is coordinating. The researchers are inviting patients to participate at the post-COVID centres of the participating university hospitals and via the digital study platform DigiHero. From their data, for example on cardiovascular function, sleep, exercise behaviour and self-reported symptoms, the research team wants to identify criteria that are characteristic of post-COVID and can support the diagnosis. Machine learning algorithms will also be used to develop models for the differential diagnosis and prediction of disease progression. The app transmits this processed data securely and in compliance with data protection regulations to the IT systems of the treating doctors for a targeted diagnosis or therapy monitoring, for example in video consultations.

Improving the post-COVID care situation with the app

The post-COVID app, which learns as it goes along, is also intended to provide users with personalised re-registration on their condition and individually tailored tips and suggestions for health-promoting behaviour such as breathing and mindfulness exercises. In a study, the researchers want to test the effectiveness of the re-registration and recommendations transmitted via the app. Nils Opel: "We are involving patient representatives, doctors' surgeries and clinical departments because the app needs to be realistic and suitable for routine care in medical practice. We see mobile monitoring via app as an opportunity to improve the current post-COVID care situation."

The research network REMIT (Remote Monitoring and Intervention for Optimised Care of Post- and Long-COVID Syndrome) is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Health with over three million euros for a period of four years as part of the research and strengthening of needs-based care for the long-term consequences of COVID-19. Involved are:

• Jena University Hospital JUH (project management)
• Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
• Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim
• FIMO Health GmbH, Bonn
• mHealth Pioneers GmbH, Berlin
• University of Münster