The Landscape of Observational COVID-19 Cohort Studies Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since late 2019 represented an unprecedented public health emergency, which included a need to fully understand coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across all ages and populations. In response, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) rapidly funded epidemiology studies that monitored COVID-19. However, the diversity and breadth of the populations studied in NIAID-funded COVID-19 observational cohorts were not easy to extrapolate because of siloed approaches to collect and report data within NIAID. Here, we describe the effort to develop a harmonized cohort-study reporting tool that includes common epidemiologic data elements as well as NIAID priorities. We report its implementation to analyze metadata from 58 COVID-19 cohort studies funded from February 2020 to June 2021, and we visualize key metadata, including geographic distribution, study duration, participant demographic characteristics, sample types collected, and scientific priorities addressed. A bibliographic analysis highlights the scientific publications and citations across these funded studies and demonstrates their enormous impact on the COVID-19 field. These analyses highlight how common data elements and reporting tools can assist funding agencies to capture the landscape and potential gaps during public health responses and how they can assist in decision making.