Association Between Upper Respiratory Tract Viral Load, Comorbidities, Disease Severity, and Outcome of Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Abstract Background There is limited information on the association between upper respiratory tract (URT) viral loads, host factors, and disease severity in SARS-CoV-2–infected patients. Methods We studied 1122 patients (mean age, 46 years) diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). URT viral loa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2021-04, Vol.223 (7), p.1132-1138
Main Authors: Maltezou, Helena C, Raftopoulos, Vasilios, Vorou, Rengina, Papadima, Kalliopi, Mellou, Kassiani, Spanakis, Nikolaos, Kossyvakis, Athanasios, Gioula, Georgia, Exindari, Maria, Froukala, Elisavet, Martinez-Gonzalez, Beatriz, Panayiotakopoulos, Georgios, Papa, Anna, Mentis, Andreas, Tsakris, Athanasios
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cardiovascular diseases
Child
Child, Preschool
Comorbidity
COVID-19
COVID-19 - diagnosis
COVID-19 - mortality
COVID-19 - therapy
COVID-19 - virology
COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing - statistics & numerical data
Female
Humans
Immunosuppression
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Intensive Care Units - statistics & numerical data
Intubation, Intratracheal - statistics & numerical data
Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data
Lung diseases
Major
Male
Middle Aged
Morbidity
Multivariate analysis
Nasopharynx - virology
Neurological diseases
Oropharynx - virology
Polymerase chain reaction
Prospective Studies
Respiration, Artificial - statistics & numerical data
Respiratory tract diseases
SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Severity of Illness Index
Viral Load - statistics & numerical data
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Background There is limited information on the association between upper respiratory tract (URT) viral loads, host factors, and disease severity in SARS-CoV-2–infected patients. Methods We studied 1122 patients (mean age, 46 years) diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). URT viral load, measured by PCR cycle threshold, was categorized as high, moderate, or low. Results There were 336 (29.9%) patients with comorbidities; 309 patients (27.5%) had high, 316 (28.2%) moderate, and 497 (44.3%) low viral load. In univariate analyses, compared to patients with moderate or low viral load, patients with high viral load were older, more often had comorbidities, developed Symptomatic disease (COVID-19), were intubated, and died. Patients with high viral load had longer stay in intensive care unit and longer intubation compared to patients with low viral load (P values 
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1093/infdis/jiaa804