Intersectoral Platform (SÜP) of the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON)

The intersectoral platform is part of the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON), which, together and in interaction with other components of the National Research Network of University Medicine on COVID-19 (NUM), provides the essential basis for the successful understanding and thus combating pandemics using the example of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). NAPKON represents a sustainable, integrative and comprehensive concept that provides benefits for society as a whole in defending against and coping with pandemics, especially at the level of public health care, in hospital and patient management and from the individual patient's perspective.

The intersectoral platform records data and biomaterial of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected patients through a network of university clinics, hospitals at all levels of care, general practitioners and specialist practices with appropriate study experience and infrastructure. The longitudinal phenotyping programme tracks patients for up to one year and collects detailed and harmonized clinical data as well as biomaterial. Follow-up data is enriched by patient-reported outcomes (PROM) and recruitment is intensified by focusing on hot-spot regions. Mobile study teams are used to reach, among others, long-term care and rehabilitation facilities, thus mapping all structural elements of the German care network.

The primary aim of the intersectoral platform is to provide a comprehensive and harmonized collection of data and biomaterial for researchers from national consortia, pharmaceutical companies and for participation in international research collaborations for the purpose of studying COVID-19 disease and future pandemics.