国家研究评估大流行的健康影响，COVID-19的潜在长期影响

关于8,000 blood test kits and surveys are being mailed to Nova Scotia households as part of a national study to assess the pandemic’s health impacts and potential long-term effects of the virus.

“This will give us a better view overall of how Canadians have fared and what they’re bringing forward into the future and how best can you then anticipate what services and supports might be needed,” COVID-19 Immunity Task Force co-chairperson Dr. Catherine Hankins said in an interview.

The survey is being sent to 100,000 Canadians in 10 provinces this spring. The first wave of 2,494 survey and test kits were sent to randomly selected Nova Scotia households in April. Another 2,718 were sent on May 10, and the final 2,718 will be mailed out next month.

“我们需要得到一个好的感觉多少Canadians actually got COVID… some people may not even have been aware that they actually did have an asymptomatic infection at one point,” Hankins said.

“This gives us a much better idea of how much immunity there is across the country and gets us in a better position to then inform policies to do with vaccines like whether additional doses are needed, and if so, for whom. Because this is not really over.”

由加拿大统计局，COVID-19豁免工作队（CITF）和加拿大公共卫生机构领导，加拿大共同-19抗体和健康调查will include details for filling out an online questionnaire and finger-prick dried blood spot (DBS) test kits.

这些血点测试将帮助研究人员更好地了解有多少18岁及以上的加拿大成年人具有感染获得或疫苗诱导的抗体（或两者）对SARS-COV-2病毒。

“People now, perhaps more than last year, really want to know, ‘Am I showing antibodies?’ It (DBS test) will tell you if you have vaccine-induced antibodies or infection-acquired antibodies, or if you have both, which would mean a hybrid immunity,” Hankins said.

“If you get chosen, you’re actually quite lucky because you’re going to be able to get some information about your own status that is not readily available.”

Hankins said the dried blood spot test will also help researchers better correlate chronic symptoms with a COVID-19 infection.

“If we can see the antibodies, then that confirms that while your symptoms may not be related to COVID, at least it shows that you did have it,” she said. “It strengthens the data in the overall survey itself for长卵形。”

本月邮寄的最新调查浪潮将包括PCR唾液测试，以检查是否有活动感染。这将有助于研究人员更好地估计在全国范围内PCR测试下降急剧下降的时候，患有或患有SARS-COV-2感染的加拿大成年人数量。

“The task force is very interested in the immunity component of this, so how many people actually have antibodies,” Hankins said.

“有了唾液标本，目前有多少人在进行唾液样本时正在发生感染？这将使我们更好地了解人们对人们甚至不使用抗原测试的无症状感染正在发生多少，因为它们没有症状。”

不仅仅是长期调查

While the study began as a survey looking at how many Canadians were infected and either got over the illness or have lingering symptoms, Hankins said it’s more than a long-COVID survey. She described it as a look at SARS-CoV-2 exposure and the experiences of patients with ongoing symptoms and their challenges accessing health care.

“任何病毒感染都可能导致需要一段时间才能解决的慢性症状，因此尝试解决这些症状实际上与Covid直接相关，这一点很重要？汉金斯说：“它们是否与两年的压力有关。

“We’re seeing a slightly higher incidence (of long-COVID) in women than men, so what is that about? Everybody’s been stressed, but there’s been additional stress for women and it’s going to be really important to try to sort that out.”

汉金斯（Hankins）也是麦吉尔大学人口和全球健康学院的教授，他说，调查和测试套件旨在为18岁以上的加拿大人口提供最具代表性的样本。

That’s why it’s critical that if you’ve received one of the survey kits in the mail, you don’t hand it over to someone else in your household.

“You’re chosen representing your demographic and your geography, so your age, your sex, etc., so you’re representing other people of that same age, sex and geography, you’re kind of the sentinel person,” Hankins said.

“到目前为止，只有19.1％的参与率”

Pandemic-related changes in the way health care was delivered, particularly in the early days, led to declines in screening for things like cancer and even simple blood pressure checks. Hankins said this survey will also help paint a picture of how potential late diagnoses might be impacting Canadians and their prognosis for various diseases.

她说：“有很多值得关注的地方，根据您要获得的东西，到处都有等待名单，而且许多卫生保健工作者仍然生病，仍然病了。”

“我们还没有充分满足……每个人都希望这一切结束，这是如此至关重要，以至于我们实际上希望看到如何最好地设计我们的卫生服务来支持人们的前进。”

到目前为止，发送给新斯科舍省的第一批调查和测试套件仅获得了19.1％的参与率。不列颠哥伦比亚省的反应最高，占20.1％。

汉金斯说，任何在4月收到第一个调查套件但尚未完成的人都被鼓励这样做。

This latest round of surveys is considered a second cycle of the antibody and health survey. Thefirst cyclewas conducted in late 2020 and early 2021 when 3,600 Nova Scotians were among 48,000 Canadians who were sent blood test kits and surveys.

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