TY - JOUR
T1 - Dynamics of Blood Viral Load Is Strongly Associated with Clinical Outcomes in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients
T2 - A Prospective Cohort Study
AU - Chen, Liting
AU - Wang, Gaoxiang
AU - Long, Xiaolu
AU - Hou, Hongyan
AU - Wei, Jia
AU - Cao, Yang
AU - Tan, Jiaqi
AU - Liu, Weiyong
AU - Huang, Liang
AU - Meng, Fankai
AU - Huang, Lifang
AU - Wang, Na
AU - Zhao, Jianping
AU - Huang, Gang
AU - Sun, Ziyong
AU - Wang, Wei
AU - Zhou, Jianfeng
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Association for Molecular Pathology and American Society for Investigative Pathology
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - The prevalence and clinical relevance of viremia in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been well studied. A prospective cohort study was designed to investigate blood viral load and clearance kinetics in 52 patients (median age, 62 years; 31 [59.6%] male) and explore their association with clinical features and outcomes based on a novel one-step RT droplet digital PCR (RT-ddPCR). By using one-step RT-ddPCR, 92.3% (48 of 52) of this cohort was quantitatively detected with viremia. The concordance between the blood and oropharyngeal swab tests was 60.92% (53 of 87). One-step RT-ddPCR was tested with a 3.03% false-positive rate and lower 50% confidence interval of detection at 54.026 copies/mL plasma. There was no reduction in the blood viral load in all critical patients, whereas the general and severe patients exhibited a similar ability to clear the viral load. The viral loads in critical patients were significantly higher than those in their general and severe counterparts. Among the 52 study patients, 30 (58%) were discharged from the hospital. Among half of the 30 discharged patients, blood viral load remained positive, of which 76.9% (10 of 13) completely cleared their blood viral load at follow-up. Meanwhile, none of their close contacts had evidence of infection. Quantitative determination of the blood viral test is of great clinical significance in the management of patients with coronavirus disease 2019.
AB - The prevalence and clinical relevance of viremia in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been well studied. A prospective cohort study was designed to investigate blood viral load and clearance kinetics in 52 patients (median age, 62 years; 31 [59.6%] male) and explore their association with clinical features and outcomes based on a novel one-step RT droplet digital PCR (RT-ddPCR). By using one-step RT-ddPCR, 92.3% (48 of 52) of this cohort was quantitatively detected with viremia. The concordance between the blood and oropharyngeal swab tests was 60.92% (53 of 87). One-step RT-ddPCR was tested with a 3.03% false-positive rate and lower 50% confidence interval of detection at 54.026 copies/mL plasma. There was no reduction in the blood viral load in all critical patients, whereas the general and severe patients exhibited a similar ability to clear the viral load. The viral loads in critical patients were significantly higher than those in their general and severe counterparts. Among the 52 study patients, 30 (58%) were discharged from the hospital. Among half of the 30 discharged patients, blood viral load remained positive, of which 76.9% (10 of 13) completely cleared their blood viral load at follow-up. Meanwhile, none of their close contacts had evidence of infection. Quantitative determination of the blood viral test is of great clinical significance in the management of patients with coronavirus disease 2019.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2020.10.007
DO - 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2020.10.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 33122141
AN - SCOPUS:85097796793
SN - 1525-1578
VL - 23
SP - 10
EP - 18
JO - Journal of Molecular Diagnostics
JF - Journal of Molecular Diagnostics
IS - 1
ER -