Respiratory and Infection

An example of the impact of this theme’s work

Leicester’s PHOSP-COVID study is leading to the development of new tests, new treatments, and improved outcomes for people living with long COVID, and continues to inform the actions of policy-makers.

The Post Hospitalisation Covid-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) is a national consortium led by experts in Leicester; Professor Chris Brightling (Chief Investigator), with Dr Rachael Evans and Professor Louise Wain as co-leads, working together to undertake research to better understand the symptoms and organ damage in people that were hospitalised with the COVID-19 infection and those now experiencing long-COVID.

Long-COVID is a debilitating health condition that remains a significant health burden on the population into 2024.

Data released by the Office For National Statistics in April 2024, showed that long-COVID symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 1.5 million people (74.7% of those with self-reported long COVID), with 381,000 (19.2% of those with self-reported long-COVID) reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been “limited a lot”.

During the last year, the PHOSP-COVID study has shared significant findings into underlying mechanisms of the condition, which are now guiding the development of therapeutic targets and treatments for patients.

PHOSP-COVID has increased our knowledge of the impact that long-COVID has on the population.

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More about the theme’s work

About 1 in 5 adults and children in the UK have a history of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or another longstanding illness that affects their lungs – called respiratory illness – according to the British Lung Foundation.

Rates of respiratory illness are generally similar for men and women. Despite many advances in prevention and treatment, lung disease still accounts for around 20 percent of all deaths in the UK making it the third leading cause of death. More locally, 14 per cent of emergency hospital admissions in Leicester are related to lung disease.

The respiratory and infection theme of the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre is located in the Institute for Lung Health at Glenfield Hospital.

We are focussing on the study of chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma, COPD – or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease – or ILD, respiratory infections, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and a new condition commonly known as Long-COVID.

We are working within three main research areas:

1. Discovery: We are working to find out and describe what is happening in the body around chronic lung diseases and respiratory infection – what increases the risk of developing the disease and how bad the symptoms are, and how and why it may get worse over time.
2. Biomarkers and phenotypes, which means chemicals in the body and characteristics – diseases like asthma do not have the same causes and symptoms in each person; there are different types. If we can understand more about the different types of a disease, we will be able to give the right type of treatment to the right person at the right time, so we can increase the chances of them getting their condition under control and improving quality of life.
3. Clinical interventions: By studying how patients respond to healthcare, we can increase our understanding of respiratory diseases and develop personalised approaches to care, as well as new public health tools.

Meeting the needs of underserved populations is a key thread to our research. For example, we were the first group to identify the increased risk of COVID-19 in people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

We also lead national tuberculosis research programmes that prioritise underserved migrant populations.