The COVID-19 vascular service (COVER) study, a multinational, prospective, observational study that is aimed at capturing the impact of the pandemic on global vascular surgery, has gained ethical approval in the UK and is now recruiting worldwide.
An international Vascular and Endovascular Research Network (VERN) project, the COVER study has been designed to assess the provision, practice, and outcomes of vascular surgery and its effect on patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, the study has 16 UK sites open with a number opening across the globe shortly, including in the USA, Australia, Europe, Singapore, and the Middle East. The study has support from both the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland (VSGBI) and the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS).
Sandip Nandhra (Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK) and Ruth Benson (VERN president, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK) are co-leads of the study alongside the VERN executive, with Chris Imray (University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust), the president of the VSGBI, and Athanasios Saratzis (University of Leicester, Leicester, UK) as chief investigators.
COVER is a three tiered mixed methods study: tier one addresses changes to unit level processes and involved regular repeated team survey capturing changes to the structure and delivery of vascular services (unit level) throughout the pandemic; tier two involves procedural data capture, with three months (initially) of data capture on all vascular and endovascular interventions undertaken throughout the pandemic; and tier three will assess changes to vascular care, involving one month (initially) data capture identifying how management of vascular cases changes throughout the pandemic.
Please visit the COVER study page on the VERN website for more information, all contributors will be recognised through collaborative authorships.
