ArticlePloS one2021
SARS-CoV-2 viral load as a predictor for disease severity in outpatients and hospitalised patients with COVID-19: A prospective cohort study.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- Plasma SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen levels are associated with lung infection and tissue-damage biomarkers.Virus research · 2025Article
- Differential immunoregulation by human surfactant protein A variants determines severity of SARS-CoV-2-induced lung disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 viremia but not respiratory viral load is associated with respiratory complications in patients with severe COVID-19.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Article
- Differentiating patients admitted primarily due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from those admitted with incidentally detected severe acute respiratory syndrome corona-virus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at hospital admission: A cohort analysis of German hospital records.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in the Nasopharynx at Time of First Infection Among Unvaccinated Individuals: A Secondary Cross-Protocol Analysis of 4 Randomized Trials.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Clinical course and management of COVID-19 in the era of widespread population immunity.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Review
- A stronger antibody response in increased disease severity of SARS-CoV-2.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Observational
- Remdesivir Influence on SARS-CoV-2 RNA Viral Load Kinetics in Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimens of COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients: A Real-Life Experience.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- High titers of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies six months after symptom onset are associated with increased severity in COVID-19 hospitalized patients.Virology journal · 2023Observational
- Viral load at hospitalization is an independent predictor of severe COVID-19.European journal of clinical investigation · 2023Article
- Hospitalization, death, and probable reinfection in Peruvian healthcare workers infected with SARS-CoV-2: a national retrospective cohort study.Human resources for health · 2022Article
- Immunogenicity and Efficacy of Monovalent and Bivalent Formulations of a Virus-Like Particle Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.Vaccines · 2022Article
- Evaluating methodological approaches to assess the severity of infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants: scoping review and applications on Belgian COVID-19 data.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Predictors of SARS-CoV-2 RNA From Nasopharyngeal Swabs and Concordance With Other Compartments in Nonhospitalized Adults With Mild to Moderate COVID-19.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Plasma SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen levels are associated with progression to severe disease in hospitalized COVID-19.Critical care (London, England) · 2022Observational
- Defining resistance and tolerance traits in Covid-19: towards a stratified medicine approach.QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians · 2022Article
- Article
- Comparing studies of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads requires caution.Journal of medical virology · 2022Article
- Protective and pathogenic role of humoral responses in COVID-19.Journal of microbiology (Seoul, Korea) · 2022Review
- Open-source real-time quantitative RT-PCR-based on a RNA standard for the assessment of SARS-CoV-2 viral load.Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
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Abstract
introductionWe aimed to examine if severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycle quantification (Cq) value, as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 viral load, could predict hospitalisation and disease severity in adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
methodsWe performed a prospective cohort study of adult patients with PCR positive SARS-CoV-2 airway samples including all out-patients registered at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital (OUH) March 9-March 17 2020, and all hospitalised patients at OUH March 10-April 21 2020. To identify associations between Cq-values and a) hospital admission and b) a severe outcome, logistic regression analyses were used to compute odds ratios (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI), adjusting for confounding factors (aOR).
resultsWe included 87 non-hospitalised and 82 hospitalised patients. The median baseline Cq-value was 25.5 (interquartile range 22.3-29.0). We found a significant association between increasing Cq-value and hospital-admission in univariate analysis (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.19). However, this was due to an association between time from symptom onset to testing and Cq-values, and no association was found in the adjusted analysis (aOR 1.08, 95% CI 0.94-1.23). In hospitalised patients, a significant association between lower Cq-values and higher risk of severe disease was found (aOR 0.89, 95% CI 0.81-0.98), independent of timing of testing.
conclusionsSARS-CoV-2 PCR Cq-values in outpatients correlated with time after symptom onset, but was not a predictor of hospitalisation. However, in hospitalised patients lower Cq-values were associated with higher risk of severe disease.
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