COVID-19 Study

Participating Sites and National Principal Investigator

Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh

British Columbia
BC Children’s Hospital (Vancouver)

Alberta
Alberta Children’s Hospital (Calgary)
Stollery Children’s Hospital (Edmonton)

Saskatchewan
Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (Saskatoon)

Manitoba
The Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg

Ontario
Children's Hospital London Health Sciences Centre (London)
McMaster Children’s Hospital (Hamilton)
The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (Ottawa)
Kingston Health Sciences Centre (Kingston)

Quebec
CHU Sainte-Justine (Montreal)
Montreal Children’s Hospital
CHU de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke)
CHU de Quebec l‘Universite de Laval (Quebec City)

Nova Scotia
IWK Health Centre (Halifax)

Newfoundland
Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre (St. John’s)

What Do We Want To Know?

What are the acute and long-term outcomes of the COVID-19 infection and vaccinations in children?

How Are We Doing It?

Families will be asked if they would like to join the study while in the hospital. During the study, information will be collected from participating children’s medical charts, such as vaccination records, test results, and hospital records. Families will fill out questionnaires about health, quality of life, family daily life, and mental health 4-5 times over one year.

When Will I Be Needed?

This study timeline shows the 5 different study timepoint and time required to complete.

What Specific Data Are We Collecting?

If you're interested in learning about the specific data we're collecting for this study, please visit the Maelstrom website.

How Is The Study Going?

Our study is currently in progress with recruitment ending in June 2024 – once complete families will have up until March 2025 to finish their follow-ups. Once data is analyzed in 2026, we will share a summary of the results with POPCORN participants!

See below a graph of the current participants in this study:

Graph of current participants in the COVID Cohort Study with number of participants shown on the horizontal line and recruiting hospital shown vertically.

Figure Description: This graph shows the current number of participants in the COVID Cohort Study. The horizontal line shows how many participants are enrolled from each recruiting hospital in this study and the vertical line shows the recruiting hospital.

CWBC - BC Children’s Hospital
ACH - Alberta Children’s Hospital
SCH - Stollery Children’s Hospital
JPCH - Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital

CHRIM - HSC Winnipeg Children’s Hospital
LHSC - Children’s Hospital – London Health Sciences Centre
MCH - McMaster Children’s Hospital
SICKKIDS - The Hospital for Sick Children

CHEO - Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
KHSC - Kingston Health Sciences Centre
CHUSJ - CHU Sainte-Justine
HME - Montreal Children’s Hospital

CHUSB - CHU de Sherbrooke
CHUL - CHU de Québec l’Université Laval
IWK - IWK Health Centre
JCH - Janeway Children’s Hospital

Who Can Participate?

About 6,400 children and their families will take part in this study across Canada. POPCORN will invite children less than 18 years of age who came to the hospital recently and are being tested either for a COVID-19 infection or a rare complication sometimes associated with COVID-19 infection or a rare complication, such as MIS-C.

Biosample Sub-Study

In this study, blood samples will be collected from patients with confirmed MIS-C, myocarditis, and pericarditis following COVID-19 vaccination or infection, as well as from controls. These samples will be used in national and international research into the causes and risk factors of adverse events following vaccination and MIS-C.

When Will My Blood Be Taken?

This biosample sub-study timeline shows the different timepoints of the sub-study.

Additional Sub-Studies

POPCORN researchers and networks/pillars are collaborating to review the COVID-19 Study data. Collaborators will ensure that data collected from the COVID-19 Study is checked for accuracy and consistency – this is called ‘data cleaning’. Once data cleaning is complete, data analysis and writing of study results can begin. Below are some studies that will use the COVID-19 data to explore unique research questions!

COVID Cohort Description

The goal of this study is to describe the baseline characteristics among COVID positive and COVID negative participants. Baseline characteristics include demographics such as ethnicity, chronic pre-existing conditions, symptoms during hospital visit, and severity of symptoms. Additionally, the group will assess the distribution of demographic, health, and clinical characteristics between positive and negative COVID participants at baseline.

PICU Ventilation Study

There is lack of information about respiratory support practices across Canadian pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). Respiratory support practices aim to help with the function of breathing for patients with respiratory difficulties. The goal of the ventilation study group is to describe the use of different ventilation supports among children admitted to PICUs with respiratory distress. The group will compare differences in type of primary supports used, duration of respiratory support, and success rates between COVID positive and COVID negative participants.

Vaccine Safety

Pending