VGO-impact

We want to learn as much as possible about the virus and its spread. We would therefore like to know from the participants in which ways they may have come into contact with the virus and whether they have become ill. We want to investigate which factors play a role in a COVID-19 infection and what the effect is on symptoms and the duration of these symptoms. And we want to know what the direct and indirect health consequences are. But we also want to know for people who have not become ill whether this time has an impact on their health and lifestyle. Did people start to live differently during the Corona pandemic, do people suffer from worries or do they sleep less and what effect does this have on their health in the long term.

About IMPACT studies

COVID-19 has a major impact on society. We know the daily numbers of infections, hospital admissions and unfortunately also those of people who die from COVID-19. We know that COVID-19 is related to a Coronavirus infection, but what are the other aspects that may play a role in the severity of the condition. Lately we have heard a lot about factors that may play a role, such as obesity, underlying diseases and environmental exposures. However, it is not only the people with an infection who may suffer health damage, because the Corona epidemic has changed life for everyone. For example, we move differently, we eat differently, we may postpone medical treatment, we may have more stress and we sleep poorly because of the uncertain times in which we live. All of these factors can affect our health. To visualize all this, the IMPACT initiative has been started (collaboration between the University Medical Center Utrecht and Utrecht University) in which information about all these factors is collected in existing cohort studies.