Notre Dame researchers launch COVID registry
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are leveraging the university’s membership in the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and one of its key programs, “All IN for Health,” to launch the Indiana COVID-19 Registry. Notre Dame says the registry is an effort to track the spread and impact of the coronavirus and better inform decision making at the state and local levels.
The university says the registry is built to work with state and county dashboards, and will measure economic and health impacts and anticipate healthcare needs. The registry will include an online dashboard with information about symptoms and testing, mental health impacts, and exposures, among others.
“Understanding how COVID-19 is affecting the health and well-being — physical, mental and economic — of Indiana residents is critical to our battle against this formidable foe,” said Marie Lynn Miranda, lead scientist on the registry and the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at Notre Dame.
The registry, which is open to anyone 18 or older, also involves introductory and follow-up surveys. The introductory survey asks about background and medical history, mental health, hand-washing habits, and household size, among others. The university says follow-up surveys are shorter and will ask similar questions, which Notre Dame says allows the registry to track changes in impacts and behavior over time.
“The Indiana CTSI is in a unique position to connect with people across the state, which will help us get more perspective about this unprecedented pandemic,” said Dr. Sarah Wiehe, co-director of the Indiana CTSI. “By understanding the needs of our communities now, as well as over time, we will be better prepared to improve health through research in the future.”
The dashboard will be made public once adequate data are available.
Notre Dame says data from the registry will be stored in a highly-secure system built and maintained by the Center for Research Computing at Notre Dame. Results will be published and updated online, excluding confidential patient information.
The university says the registry is modeled on the COVID-19 Registry at Rice University, where Miranda served as professor of statistics from 2015 to 2020.