Determining Infection Severity of CoV-2 in Elderly Residents: Type I interferon responses and their bio-psychosocial determinants to guide management of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the long-term care facility elderly [DISCoVER, study data contributed to the CITF Databank]

Aims of the CITF-funded study: DISCoVER biobank aimed to optimize risk stratification for residents infected by COVID-19 in long-term care facilities by using interferon-based immunological markers. They also aimed to identify psychosocial and cardiovascular risk factors contributing to severe outcomes of COVID-19 and evaluate the impact of vaccination on disease severity.

Methods

This cohort study recruited residents over the age of 65 from long-term care facilities in Montreal, Quebec, who were tested for COVID-19. On “day 0”, when participants’ COVID-19 test results were determined, they completed a psychosocial interview, questionnaires, optional qualitative psychosocial evaluations through in-depth interviews, and provided blood samples for plasma and a COVID test [1]. This process was repeated at follow ups 1-, 3-, and 6-months post “day 0”.

Participants also provided a blood sample for plasma 7 days after day 0. Summary of the contributed data: Dataset includes baseline medical health record data from 115 participants. 80% of participants gave one or more blood samples for SARS-CoV-2 serology between August 2021 and July 2023. A total of 149 serological samples were collected.

Variables include data in the following areas of information: demographics (age, sex, ethnicity), general health (smokes, chronic conditions, height and weight), longitudinal follow-up for COVID infection (test date and result), SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (dates of vaccine doses, side effects) and serology (antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 RBD, nucleocapsid, and spike proteins). [1]: Please contact original study team for psychosocial data.