Participants for TheraSurv Post-COVID are initially recruited through the Post-COVID outpatient clinics in Rhineland-Palatinate. A list of these clinics can be found here. In the future, additional healthcare facilities providing treatment for Post-COVID – ranging from general practices to rehabilitation clinics – are also expected to participate.

The study is conducted primarily digitally. Participation begins at one of the participating Post-COVID medical practices. During a regular medical appointment, you will receive information about the TheraSurv Post-COVID project and provide written informed consent to participate in the study.

During your regular treatment appointments, your treating physicians document medical information, diagnoses, and treatments in a digital case record.

In addition, you regularly provide information about your health status, symptoms, and any changes in treatment via the specially developed TheraSurv Post-COVID smartphone app. You can enter this information conveniently on your smartphone, regardless of your location.

Participation is scheduled to last up to 20 months.

As part of the TheraSurv Post-COVID study, your doctor will document your medical data and information about the therapies used to treat post-COVID syndrome in a digital medical record. This includes information about the examinations performed, new diagnoses, and the type, dosage, and duration of prescribed medication and non-medication-based therapies (e.g., occupational therapy). In addition, you will be asked to use a smartphone app developed specifically for TheraSurv to enter information about your health status, your current symptoms, and any changes in your post-COVID treatment, once at the beginning of the study and then weekly thereafter.

No. TheraSurv Post-COVID is purely an observational study of medical data. The TheraSurv app is not a medical app; it collects data exclusively for research purposes. No diagnoses or treatments are provided through the app.

Participation is, of course, free of charge. Downloading the TheraSurv app is also free. Participation in TheraSurv Post-COVID is voluntary. For this reason, no compensation is provided.

Participation in TheraSurv Post-COVID is voluntary. Consent may be withdrawn at any time, verbally or in writing, without providing a reason, and without any adverse consequences for participants. Participation can be terminated via the smartphone app. Alternatively, participants may contact the information office.

The handling of personally identifiable information and medically collected data complies with the requirements of applicable data protection laws. Before the study began, the study documents were reviewed and approved by the independent ethics committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Medical Association and the data protection officer at Mainz University Medical Center. Throughout the project, the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and the guidelines for “Good Epidemiological Practice” (GEP) are adhered to. All TheraSurv Post-COVID staff are bound by medical confidentiality and/or are obligated to maintain data confidentiality in accordance with §5 BDSG and §8 LDSG.

No, there are no health risks associated with participation. TheraSurv Post-COVID is a purely observational study, which means that only data is collected and analyzed.

The project is conducted by the University Medical Center Mainz.

The project is funded by the Ministry of Science and Health of Rhineland-Palatinate and the G. and I. Leifheit Foundation.

The digital case record was developed in collaboration with the Institute for Digital Health Data (IDG), and the smartphone app was developed in collaboration with IBM Deutschland GmbH.