Cart
Your cart is empty
Stay informed
PrecisionLife founders, Steve and Rowan Gardner, answer your questions about the Post COVID DNA Wellness Report.
Questions before you order?
Find answers to other common questions about the Post COVID DNA Wellness Report.
Long COVID and if the report is right for you
The Post COVID DNA Wellness Report is suitable for all eligible adults living with ongoing symptoms after COVID-19 who want to explore their genetic profile in the context of peer-reviewed long COVID research.
To be eligible, you must be at least 18 years old and be a US resident with a United States postal address.
Long COVID can affect many parts of the body and more than 250 symptoms have been reported [R, R].
Common symptoms include:
Symptoms vary considerably between individuals and may also change over time.
Researchers are still investigating why some people develop long COVID while others recover fully after COVID-19.
Current evidence suggests that genetics is one of several factors that may influence how people respond to infection and which longer-term biological mechanisms become involved.
No. There is currently no laboratory test, including a DNA test, that can definitively confirm or rule out long COVID. Healthcare professionals assess the condition using your health history, symptoms and examination, with other tests where appropriate.
The Post COVID DNA Wellness Report provides a different kind of information: it compares patterns in your DNA with findings from PrecisionLife’s long COVID research. It offers biological context about your genetic profile, enables you to be more informed about the biological processes and genes in your DNA that are most important to explore further, and helps you have more focused discussions with medical professionals about your health.
No. A formal diagnosis is not required. The report is designed for adults who want to explore their genetic profile in the context of long COVID research, including those experiencing ongoing symptoms after COVID-19.
You must be at least 18 years old and a US resident with a US postal address.
Research indicates that genetics is one of several factors that may influence long COVID. This has been demonstrated by research from PrecisionLife and others [R, R] .
Even when people experience the same infection, their bodies can respond in different ways. Your DNA and genes may influence how biological systems such as immune regulation, energy production, inflammation, circulation, and metabolism function.
The report is grounded in PrecisionLife’s research involving people known to have long COVID across multiple independent UK and US research studies. Findings from our original UK study were reproduced in an independent US cohort, providing further evidence that the genetic patterns and biological mechanisms included in the report are relevant to long COVID research.
We have also worked with people with lived experience of long COVID, patient advocates, patient and public involvement and engagement representatives, clinicians, policymakers and funders. Their input has helped us ensure that the report is accurate, up to date and as relevant and useful as possible to the long COVID community.
About genomics
A genome is the complete set of genetic information in any organism, stored in its DNA. It contains all the instructions needed for the organism to grow, function, and maintain itself. Every person’s genome is mostly the same, but small differences in every genome help make each individual unique.
DNA is the molecule that the body uses to carry genetic information. It is in (almost) every cell in our bodies, and is written using four chemical “letters”: A, T, C, and G. The order of those letters carries information (a little like combining letters of the alphabet to make words and sentences). Some stretches of DNA are called genes. These contain instructions that cells can use to make proteins, which do many jobs in the body. But genes make up only a small part of the genome - lots of DNA has other roles, such as helping control when genes are switched on or off.
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a laboratory process that reads nearly all of a person's DNA to understand their complete genetic makeup. The DNA is first broken into millions of small pieces (it is simply too big to work on in one go), and the sequence of each piece is read, producing sequence reads.
Powerful computer software then assembles these sequence reads like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to recreate the person's genome. Scientists can compare the assembled genome to a reference genome (a known map of human DNA from multiple people) to identify genetic differences that may be important for health, ancestry, or research.
A genetic variant is a small difference in a person's DNA sequence compared with others. Often this is a single change - you can think of this as different spelling of words like “grey” and “gray”. Most of the time these genetic variants are harmless and might contribute to the characteristics that make each of us unique, such as aspects of our appearance, biology, and how our bodies respond to the environment.
Some variants might lead to bigger effects. They can influence how likely a person is to develop certain diseases or respond to medications, although many have little or no effect on health. In most cases, it is patterns composed of many variants, together with lifestyle and environmental factors, that shapes health and disease risk.
Your genetic data is provided as a VCF (Variant Call Format) file. This downloadable file contains a list of the genetic variants found in your genome. It typically includes information about where each variant is located in the genome, what DNA change was detected, and details about the confidence of the result. We refer to this as your Digital Genome DNA file.
In simple terms, rather than storing a person's entire genome sequence, a VCF file just contains the DNA differences identified when their genome was compared with the reference genome. This makes it much smaller and easier to handle and process, but is sufficient for future analyses.
Your report and results
Your Post COVID DNA Wellness Report shows how genetic patterns identified in your DNA compare with patterns observed in people known to have long COVID in PrecisionLife’s research studies [R, R].The report looks at more than 1,670 genetic patterns across 92 genes associated with six key areas of biology studied in long COVID research:
For each area, your report shows how frequently relevant genetic patterns appear in your DNA compared with PrecisionLife’s long COVID research populations. Your results include a comparative category and percentile, together with information about the genes associated with your result and links to relevant scientific and clinical research.This can help you understand which areas of biology may be more or less prominent in your genetic profile in the context of long COVID research.The accompanying Post COVID Wellness Guide provides additional educational information about these areas of biology and, where there is sufficient scientific evidence, discusses relevant research into lifestyle factors and supplements.
The report is based on PrecisionLife's combinatorial research into long COVID (see the Science and research page). Instead of relying only on isolated variants, the analysis evaluates combinations of variants and maps these patterns to genes in six key biological mechanisms. These specific research-population comparisons are based on PrecisionLife’s published and peer-reviewed research.
Yes. You may find the report helpful for preparing questions and supporting a more informed conversation about your general well-being. It is not intended for clinical decision-making and should not replace medical assessment or advice.
No, not for Post COVID conditions. Your DNA (at least the parts we sequence) is fixed and will not change over time.
The science and DNA analysis
The report analyzes 92 genes and more than 1,670 genetic patterns mapping to at least one of those genes across the following six mechanisms:
The exact number of genes and genetic patterns included for an individual result may be affected by genetic data quality.
The laboratory uses low-pass whole-genome sequencing, a method that examines millions of small variations across the genome. PrecisionLife then evaluates the selected genetic patterns used in the report and compares them with patterns observed in people known to have long COVID in its research populations.
Low-pass whole-genome sequencing (lpWGS) is shallow sequencing across the entire genome. Because we are evaluating combinations of relative common genetic variants, we usually use 2x average coverage, rather than 30x or higher, which is more commonly used for clinical detection of rare and ultra-rare variants. lpWGS enables us to capture signal from across the whole genome, rather than just specific pre-chosen sites as would be the case with genotyping arrays.
Coverage (written as “x”) is the average number of sequence reads spanning each genomic base. At 30x WGS, a base is observed roughly 30 times on average; at 2x they are observed on average twice.
The simple answer is that we don’t need 30x coverage or higher on the genome – because we are looking for combinations of relatively common variants, 2x coverage is sufficiently accurate for our applications.
Some clinical genetic tests are based on rare and ultra-rare variants, which require 30-100x coverage and manual interpretation of the results, which makes them very expensive to operate.
Lower coverage sequencing is effective for our applications, and has the benefit of being less expensive to run, making the reports more affordable. As we only evaluate the specific genetic patterns required for each report, we do not see or provide information outside of the context of this report.
Sample collection and getting your results
Use the cheek swab included in the at-home collection kit. Follow the enclosed instructions to collect cells from the inside of your cheek, seal the sample and return it for processing. No blood draw or clinic visit is required.
Results are typically available 3-4 weeks after your sample is received at our lab. You will receive an email notification when your report is ready to view in your secure account.
Please keep in mind that results may take 4-6 weeks if the sample quality is low.
Our lab will make two attempts to process each swab before we reach out to you for a new collection.
Privacy and your genetic data
PrecisionLife and our authorized service providers process your information to provide the service as described in the Privacy Policy. PrecisionLife does not own and will never sell your personal or genetic data.
See the full Privacy Policy for security, retention, deletion and privacy-rights information.
Yes - you can request for us to delete your account and genetic data at any point. However, we can only provide your results and personalized report if we still have access to this data so we recommend waiting until after you receive your report if you would like to request your data to be deleted.
Once you’ve received your results, you can request deletion of your genetic data through your PrecisionLife account. We’ll verify your identity, explain what this means for access to your report and downloadable DNA data file, and give you the opportunity to confirm or change your mind before we proceed.
Ordering, price and account
The price includes:
Yes, you can. If you order a kit for another individual, you warrant that you have obtained their explicit consent, that they meet the 18+ US residency requirement, and that they accept these Terms of Service.
The individual whose DNA is analyzed must set up their own private account to view their report.
Purchases are final and non-refundable once your sample collection kit ships. Kits cannot be returned, even if unopened.
If your sample cannot be processed, the laboratory will process your backup swab at no extra charge. If that also fails, we will send a replacement kit free of charge, including shipping and sample-return postage.
If both swabs from the replacement kit also fail, we will refund your purchase payment, less a handling fee.
Please review the policy for full details: Returns and Refunds policy.
The Post COVID DNA Wellness Report is a personalized genetic report for people living with long COVID. It analyzes 1,670 genetic patterns in your DNA across six key areas of biology affected in post COVID conditions. This provides a more detailed and meaningful view of your genetic profile.
Understand what long COVID research says about your DNA and explore the genes and mechanisms most relevant to you. Gain new insights that helps you approach your health and well-being with confidence and have more informed and productive conversations with healthcare professionals.
Order now to also receive a downloadable copy of your genetic data and an interactive Post COVID Wellness Guide summarizing all the published information about long COVID biology, lifestyle changes, and supplements.
Availability and ordering options vary by country.Please select your location to continue.
Order directly from PrecisionLife
Check availability or register your interest
I accept the Terms of Service.
I am 18 or older and a US resident. I am buying this report for myself or for another adult US resident with their consent.
I consent for DNA to be extracted from the sample provided and processed using whole genome sequencing.
Secure checkout - you'll be asked to create a free Shop account to complete your order.
