A June 2020 study of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 who were admitted to two New York hospitals showed that they were more likely to be intubated or die during their hospitalization if they had high viral loads and a range of comorbidities.
Those with the worst outcomes were also more likely to be of older age along with comorbidities such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, COPD and cancer. Researchers said the relationship between the viral load and comorbidities could have been that the patients had decreased cardiopulmonary reserves due to the comorbidities, which would have made them less able to fight off COVID-19.
They also found that patients with higher viral loads were more likely to develop myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and acute kidney injury. “It is unclear whether these associations were from chance, were related to increased hypoxia in heart and kidney tissue, or were related to increased viral infection of these organs,” researchers said.
An interesting side note to the study was that, despite the fact that Hispanic and black communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, there were no differences in admission SARS-CoV-2 viral loads or outcomes among different racial or ethnic groups.
SOURCE: Clinical Infectious Diseases June 30, 2020