Divers Alert Network is looking for at least 1,000 divers who have contracted COVID-19 to participate in a multiyear study to assess how the disease affects the ability to dive.

“What we want to know is in which ways does a COVID infection... [compare] to other respiratory distress syndromes and respiratory illnesses” when it comes to diving fitness, said Frauke Tillmans, research director at DAN.

Scuba divers and freedivers around the world can participate, which entails filling out up to nine online surveys over the next five years.

The questionnaires will address divers' medical history, COVID infection and recovery, and experiences if they returned to diving after recuperating. Results will inform physician guidelines and recommendations for divers looking to return to scuba after contracting COVID.

The study aims to evaluate the impact of a broad range of COVID cases, from confirmed asymptomatic cases to those that required hospitalization. Suspected infections are welcome in the participant pool, as long as the diver displayed COVID symptoms at the time. “What we're not really interested in is when people were asymptomatic all the way and have never been tested,” Tillmans said.

Divers can sign up for the study by filling out the initial online survey, and enrollments will be accepted on a rolling basis for the next five years. Follow-up surveys will be sent out every few months after the initial questionnaire, tapering over time to an annual check-in.

Members of the research team will reach out to some divers after their survey is submitted to request follow-up information, such as hospital records or the results of a fitness-to-dive assessment. Sharing medical records with DAN is not mandatory for participation, “but it does make the picture much clearer if we have test results,” Tillmans said.

DAN researchers hope the study will provide the dive community with clarity. “We don't want to get everyone in a panic mode, because that happened in April,” Tillmans said. “We want the big picture.”

Divers can enroll in the study at research.net/r/DANcovidstudy. Specific inquiries about the study can be directed to Dr. James Chimiak at [email protected]. Questions regarding the rights of research subjects should be directed to DAN’s institutional review board at [email protected].

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