The clinical trial phase of the KoVit research project – contactless vital sign monitoring for objective post-COVID follow-up to support medical diagnostic s– will begin in October. The aim is to improve care for patients with post-COVID symptoms using an innovative, contactless monitoring system.

Continuous monitoring via camera instead of cables

The central element of the project is an app that combines two functions: an optical sensor system measures vital parameters such as respiratory rate or heartbeat via the smartphone or tablet camera without any cables or additional measuring devices. At the same time, those affected can document their symptoms in a digital symptom diary, making it easier to identify the biopsychosocial consequences of post-COVID syndrome. The app thus not only supports medical diagnostics, but also enables objective documentation of the course of the disease. The research team can use the data obtained to derive group-specific therapeutic interventions, thereby contributing to improved aftercare for post-COVID-19 diseases.

Study procedure

The clinical study will start in October at Essen University Hospital and will run for eight weeks. Participating patients will use the prototype of the KoVit app daily at home to record vital data contactlessly and keep a symptom diary. Participants will enter their symptoms on a smiley scale every day, answer short questions about sleep and stress, and take a rest measurement twice a day. In addition, the test subjects will complete the sit-to-stand test and a guided meditation exercise in the app once a week. This will provide a continuous and realistic overview of their health progress, which will be incorporated into their medical care and at the same time provide valuable data for scientific evaluation, supplemented by acceptance and usability questionnaires at the end.

"With KoVit, we are researching how well the KoVit app is suited for post-COVID patients. There are two main areas of focus: First, we want to find out how user-friendly the app is and whether it can be used effectively in everyday life. Second, we want to check whether the vital parameters measured with the app—such as heart rate and respiratory rate—are usable and comparable with the values from standard measurements," says Caroline Reßing, project manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg. “Our goal is to improve the care of post-COVID patients by enabling the app to provide structured documentation of their health status in the future.”

Strong partners for a holistic approach

Under the leadership of Fraunhofer IMS, four partners are cooperating in the project:

• The Department of Infectious Diseases at Essen University Hospital contributes medical expertise and access to post-COVID patients.
• Fimo Health GmbH complements the system with an app for digital symptom diary keeping.
• MedEcon Ruhr GmbH coordinates the requirements for the system from the patient's perspective and evaluates its transferability to standard medical care.

Perspective: Model for the future of care

The combination of contactless vital data recording and digital symptom diary not only enables close monitoring of progress, but also the early detection of possible long-term effects. This allows therapy to be individually tailored and preventive measures to be taken. The findings from the clinical study will serve as the basis for new care standards and help to improve the long-term care of post-COVID patients.

KoVit combines high-tech with the reality of healthcare: for a healthcare system that grows with the challenges of new clinical pictures. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) (funding code: 16SV9173) and will run until December 2025.