The influence of COVID-19 on clinical and epidemiological research

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted not only healthcare services, the economy, and people's lives worldwide but also the entire academic and scientific research landscape. While research advances and the number of publications regarding the disease grows daily, one of the pandemic's major impacts on clinical research across diverse fields will be the systemic abnormalities resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is not yet possible to determine the effects and consequences of the novel coronavirus infection on various human tissues and organs - specifically, whether these conditions will be transient or permanent, and whether they will vary among individuals in the same way that disease progression and treatment outcomes varied during this period. Given this, could disregarding this variable compromise the results, interpretation, and conclusions of studies? Could novel coronavirus infection potentially influence the variables or outcomes of interest in your research?