Observational studyInternal and emergency medicine2022
Viral load and disease severity in COVID-19.
Observational study in Internal and emergency medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early intervention with azelastine nasal spray may reduce viral load in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Using virtual patient cohorts to uncover immune response differences in cancer and immunosuppressed COVID-19 patients.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Association of SARS-COV-2 Real-Time PCR Cycle Threshold (Ct) Values with the Clinical and Laboratory Profiles of Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Admitted in Tertiary Infectious Disease Hospital in Manila: A Retrospective Study.Acta medica Philippina · 2025Article
- Investigation of Initial Viral Loads and Patient Characteristics as Predictors of COVID-19 Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Infectious disease reports · 2023Article
- Predictive factors of delayed viral clearance of asymptomatic Omicron-related COVID-19 screened positive in patients with cancer receiving active anticancer treatment.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2023Article
- Impact of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines on lung injury in B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant-infected patients.Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials · 2023Article
- A follow up study of cycle threshold values of SARS-CoV-2 in Hunan Province, China.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2023Article
- Phage-Derived Depolymerase: Its Possible Role for Secondary Bacterial Infections in COVID-19 Patients.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Association between SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load and Patient Symptoms and Clinical Outcomes Using Droplet Digital PCR.Viruses · 2023Article
- Profiling of exhaled volatile organics in the screening scenario of a COVID-19 test center.iScience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The relationship between COVID-19 severity and viral load is unknown. Our objective was to assess the association between viral load and disease severity in COVID-19. In this single center observational study of adults with laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2, the first positive in-hospital nasopharyngeal swab was used to calculate the log10 copies/ml [log10 copy number (CN)] of SARS-CoV-2. Four categories based on level of care and modified sequential organ failure assessment score (mSOFA) at time of swab were determined. Median log10CN was compared between different levels of care and mSOFA quartiles. Median log10CN was compared in patients who did and did not receive influenza vaccine, and the correlation between log10CN and D-dimer was examined. We found that of 396 patients, 54.3% were male, and 25% had no major comorbidity. Hospital mortality was 15.7%. Median mSOFA was 2 (IQR 0-3). Median log10CN was 5.5 (IQR 3.3-8.0). Median log10CN was highest in non-intubated ICU patients [6.4 (IQR 4.4-8.1)] and lowest in intubated ICU patients [3.6 (IQR 2.6-6.9)] (p value < 0.01). In adjusted analyses, this difference remained significant [mean difference 1.16 (95% CI 0.18-2.14)]. There was no significant difference in log10CN between other groups in the remaining pairwise comparisons. There was no association between median log10CN and mSOFA in either unadjusted or adjusted analyses or between median log10CN in patients with and without influenza immunization. There was no correlation between log10CN and D-dimer. We conclude, in our cohort, we did not find a clear association between viral load and disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Though viral load was higher in non-intubated ICU patients than in intubated ICU patients there were no other significant differences in viral load by disease severity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.