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Final Program


Final Program

COVID Rehabilitation

803 - Leveraging a Biobank for Clinical Trial Recruitment: Response Rates and Feasibility of Engaging Post-COVID Participants

Thursday, February 19, 2026
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM AST
Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and generalizability of leveraging a large academic health system biobank to recruit participants for a clinical trial targeting individuals experiencing post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). Specifically, we aimed to (1) assess response, eligibility, and participation rates and (2) identify sociodemographic predictors of eligibility and willingness to participate in an RCT of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary outpatient therapy program for individuals reporting severe, persistent fatigue and cognitive symptoms. 

Design: Adult participants (≥18 years) from the Penn Medicine BioBank (PMBB) who underwent COVID-19 testing between April 2020 and November 2021 were surveyed regarding infection history, persistent symptoms, and health-related quality of life. Among respondents, we identified potentially eligible individuals meeting symptom-based eligibility, those fully eligible based on severity criteria, and compared those who enrolled to those who declined. Comparisons were also made between respondents and non-respondents to evaluate generalizability of biobank recruitment. 

Results: A total of 14,112 individuals were contacted through two waves of the PMBB online pre-screener, of whom 4,749 responded (33.7%). Respondents were older (mean age: 56.4 vs. 48.8 years, p< .0001) and more likely non-Hispanic White (78.9% vs. 71%, p< .001). Among respondents with confirmed laboratory results, 70.2% had prior COVID-19 and 743 (19.2%) reported persistent symptoms >4 weeks. Of those, 590 (79.4%) met preliminary eligibility. Only 202 (34.2%) met full severity criteria and 160 agreed to participate (participation rate: 79.2%). No significant differences were found by age or sex, though racial minority participants were more likely to participate conditional on eligibility. 

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using an unselected, community-based biobank for rapid, scalable recruitment into symptom-targeted clinical trials. By integrating survey-based prescreening with longitudinal demographic and clinical data, our approach enabled efficient identification of participants and may serve as a model for recruitment in other contexts.