Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19
Despite a clear association of patient’s age with COVID-19 severity, there has been conflicting data on the association of viral load with disease severity. Here, we investigated the association of viral load dynamics with patient’s age and severity of COVID-19 using a set of respiratory specimens l...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.712260/full |
| _version_ | 1797870990130151424 |
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| author | Yuri Kim Yuri Kim Shinhyea Cheon Hyeongseok Jeong Uni Park Uni Park Na-Young Ha Na-Young Ha Jooyeon Lee Kyung Mok Sohn Yeon-Sook Kim Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho |
| author_facet | Yuri Kim Yuri Kim Shinhyea Cheon Hyeongseok Jeong Uni Park Uni Park Na-Young Ha Na-Young Ha Jooyeon Lee Kyung Mok Sohn Yeon-Sook Kim Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho |
| author_sort | Yuri Kim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite a clear association of patient’s age with COVID-19 severity, there has been conflicting data on the association of viral load with disease severity. Here, we investigated the association of viral load dynamics with patient’s age and severity of COVID-19 using a set of respiratory specimens longitudinally collected (mean: 4.8 times/patient) from 64 patients with broad distribution of clinical severity and age during acute phase. Higher viral burden was positively associated with inflammatory responses, as assessed by IL-6, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase levels in patients’ plasma collected on the same day, primarily in the younger cohort (≤59 years old) and in mild cases of all ages, whereas these were barely detectable in elderly patients (≥60 years old) with critical disease. In addition, viral load dynamics in elderly patients were not significantly different between mild and critical cases, even though more enhanced inflammation was consistently observed in the elderly group when compared to the younger group during the acute phase of infection. The positive correlation of viral load with disease severity in younger patients may explain the increased therapeutic responsiveness to current antiviral drugs and neutralizing antibody therapies in younger patients compared to elderly patients. More careful intervention against aging-associated inflammation might be required to mitigate severe disease progression and reduce fatality in COVID-19 patients more than 60 years old. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:37:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-29fcd6ca9ff34b1a87fc38af1ab5812f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:37:09Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-29fcd6ca9ff34b1a87fc38af1ab5812f2023-03-14T12:36:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2021-07-011210.3389/fmicb.2021.712260712260Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19Yuri Kim0Yuri Kim1Shinhyea Cheon2Hyeongseok Jeong3Uni Park4Uni Park5Na-Young Ha6Na-Young Ha7Jooyeon Lee8Kyung Mok Sohn9Yeon-Sook Kim10Nam-Hyuk Cho11Nam-Hyuk Cho12Nam-Hyuk Cho13Nam-Hyuk Cho14Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaMedical Research Center, Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South KoreaDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaMedical Research Center, Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South KoreaDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaMedical Research Center, Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South KoreaSeoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South KoreaDespite a clear association of patient’s age with COVID-19 severity, there has been conflicting data on the association of viral load with disease severity. Here, we investigated the association of viral load dynamics with patient’s age and severity of COVID-19 using a set of respiratory specimens longitudinally collected (mean: 4.8 times/patient) from 64 patients with broad distribution of clinical severity and age during acute phase. Higher viral burden was positively associated with inflammatory responses, as assessed by IL-6, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase levels in patients’ plasma collected on the same day, primarily in the younger cohort (≤59 years old) and in mild cases of all ages, whereas these were barely detectable in elderly patients (≥60 years old) with critical disease. In addition, viral load dynamics in elderly patients were not significantly different between mild and critical cases, even though more enhanced inflammation was consistently observed in the elderly group when compared to the younger group during the acute phase of infection. The positive correlation of viral load with disease severity in younger patients may explain the increased therapeutic responsiveness to current antiviral drugs and neutralizing antibody therapies in younger patients compared to elderly patients. More careful intervention against aging-associated inflammation might be required to mitigate severe disease progression and reduce fatality in COVID-19 patients more than 60 years old.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.712260/fullSARS-CoV-2COVID-19viral loadseverityinflammation |
| spellingShingle | Yuri Kim Yuri Kim Shinhyea Cheon Hyeongseok Jeong Uni Park Uni Park Na-Young Ha Na-Young Ha Jooyeon Lee Kyung Mok Sohn Yeon-Sook Kim Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Nam-Hyuk Cho Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19 Frontiers in Microbiology SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 viral load severity inflammation |
| title | Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19 |
| title_full | Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19 |
| title_short | Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients’ Age Group in COVID-19 |
| title_sort | differential association of viral dynamics with disease severity depending on patients age group in covid 19 |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 viral load severity inflammation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.712260/full |
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