Contrasting SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies and clinical symptoms in a large cohort of Colombian patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101152152 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1476-0711 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14760711 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2002]-

COVID-19/*pathology ; RNA, Viral/*blood ; SARS-CoV-2/*genetics ; Viral Load/*genetics; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; COVID-19/diagnosis ; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Colombia ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; RNA, Viral/genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Young Adult

Background: There is limited and controverting evidence looking at possible associations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA copies and patient variables in large cohorts of symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
Methods: We studied 2275 symptomatic and asymptomatic patients from Colombia with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and analyzed the associations between RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) value with gender, age, comorbidities, symptomatology, and disease severity.
Results: 15.4 % of the samples (n = 428) reported at least one comorbidity. There were 2011 symptomatic cases (72.4 %), being the most common reported symptom cough (57.2 %, n = 1586). Respiratory distress was present in 21.4 % of patients (n = 595), and 435 patients (15.6 %) required hospital admission. We observed that patients with no prior medical history harbored higher RNA copies than patients with comorbidities (p = 0.02). No significant differences in RNA copies were observed between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (p = 0.82). Strong correlations were detected between Ct values and the presence of odynophagia (p = 0.03), diarrhea (p = 0.04), and headache (p = 0.0008). An inverse association was found between RNA copy number and markers of disease severity, namely, respiratory distress (P < 0.0001) and hospitalization requirement (P < 0.0001).
Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR cycle thresholds reveal strong associations with a prior medical history, specific symptomatology, and disease severity markers. Further research controlling potential confounding variables needs to be conducted to evaluate the nature and usefulness of these associations in managing COVID-19 patients.

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Internal Funds Universidad del Rosario

Keywords: COVID-19; Clinical symptoms; Comorbidities; Ct; RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2

0 (RNA, Viral)

Date Created: 20210525 Date Completed: 20210531 Latest Revision: 20231101

20240105

PMC8142070

10.1186/s12941-021-00445-8

34030702