Understanding COVID-19

Since COVID-19 began, there has been an urgent need to understand it better: to reveal how it spreads, how best to treat critically ill patients, and how to prevent it in the form of vaccines

Sunnybrook has been on the leading edge of COVID-19 research – work that continues to this day. That’s thanks in large part to our community of donors: more than 11,500 people came together to contribute to Sunnybrook’s COVID-19 response.

“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunnybrook researchers have been quick to rise to the challenge,” says Dr. Kullervo Hynynen, Vice-President of Research & Innovation at Sunnybrook. Our researchers have launched more than 100 COVID-related studies, looking at everything from the respiratory effects of the disease to the broader, systemic effects.

Together, the hope is that these dozens of studies will help doctors better understand how to treat everyone impacted by the virus for years to come. “We’ve tried to make a substantive impact in better understanding the virus or proposing solutions to the many questions posed by the pandemic,” says Dr. Hynynen.

Why do COVID-19 symptoms persist in some people?

Dr. Hubert Tsui, Head of Division of Hematopathology, is working with clinical microbiologist Dr. Robert Kozak to see if they can discover why some people recover completely from the disease, while others – up to 50 percent – become long-haulers with long-term symptoms. They’re hopeful that understanding the mechanism behind how this happens will help with treatment options down the road.

What is the impact of COVID-19 on the brain?

Neuroscientist Dr. Simon Graham is using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look into the lasting cognitive and mental effects that can come with COVID-19. As the study progresses, the early findings are suggesting that some patients who were on ventilators for the disease suffered mini-strokes and others had inflammation in the brain, which could explain long-haul symptoms like brain fog or poor memory.

What is the relationship between COVID-19 and the heart?

Cardiologist Dr. Idan Roifman is also using MRIs in his studies, but looking at the heart. He’s researching how likely COVID-19 is to lead to inflammation of the heart muscle (known as myocarditis) or to damage the heart muscle in the same way a heart attack would.

What impact has COVID-19 had on mental health?

Psychiatrist Dr. Anthony Levitt, chief of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, is exploring the impact of the pandemic on the mental health and/or addictions issues of Ontarians. Using surveys of a representative population of the province, he has uncovered that younger age is associated with higher suicidal ideation (as compared to older age); greater long-term social support seems to be protective against suicidal ideation; and higher alcohol and cannabis use was associated with higher suicidal ideation. He has also found that younger participants, females, those identifying with lower socio-economic status and those who were not worried about themselves or someone close to them contracting COVID-19 were more likely to be vaccine-hesitant and resistant than vaccine-ready. In addition, 56 percent of those respondents whose family planning had been affected by the pandemic did not currently have children; depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and suicidal ideation scores were significantly higher in those who delayed family planning as a result of the pandemic, compared to those who did not. This is all information he hopes can help in future pandemics as well.