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. 2022 May 20;25(5):104075.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104075. Epub 2022 Mar 14.

Association of high SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia with diabetes and mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Mehran Monchi  1 , Thomas Bruneau  2 , Sebastien Jochmans  1 , David Veyer  2 , Aurelia Pitsch  3 , Olivier Ellrodt  1 , Marie Picque  3 , Valérie Taly  4 , Oumar Sy  1 , Sandie Mazerand  1 , Sylvain Diamantis  5 , Hélène Péré  2
Affiliations

Association of high SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia with diabetes and mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Mehran Monchi et al. iScience. .

Abstract

It has been suggested that during the period of respiratory worsening of severe COVID-19 patients, viral replication plays a less important role than inflammation. Using the droplet-based digital PCR (ddPCR) for precise quantification of plasma SARS-CoV-2 viral load (SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia), we investigated the relationship between plasma viral load, comorbidities, and mortality of 122 critically ill COVID-19 patients. SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia was detected by ddPCR in 90 (74%) patients, ranging from 70 to 213,152 copies per mL. A high (>1 000 copies/ml) or very high (>10,000 copies/ml) SARS-Cov-2 RNAemia was observed in 46 patients (38%), of which 26 were diabetic. Diabetes was independently associated with a higher SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia. In multivariable logistic regression models, SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia was strongly and independently associated with day-60 mortality. Early initiation of antiviral therapies might be considered in COVID-19 critically ill patients with high RNAemia.

Keywords: Clinical medicine; Virology.

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Conflict of interest statement

H.P., D.V., and V.T. have a patent related to the present work to declare: PCT/EP2021/064575 “QUANTIFICATION OF CORONAVIRUS RNAemia".

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