Evaluation of the Relationship Between Disease Severity and Viral Cycle Threshold Value in COVID-19 Patients

Objective: There is a positive and significant relationship between severity and viral load in some viral diseases. Studies on the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral load at diagnosis and severity of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) have yielded conflicting results. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between viral load and the clinical status of patients with COVID-19. Methods: Data of the patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to our center between May 01 and June 31, 2020, were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups according to their clinical characteristics as mild-moderate and severe. The demographic, laboratory, clinical, and radiological data were retrieved from electronic folders. Results: The entire cohort included 285 patients; 254 had a mild-moderate clinical course, and 31 had a severe course. Statistical analyses revealed that SARS-CoV-2 viral load was not associated with symptom duration and clinical status (p>0.05). According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, only ferritin, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase elevations were positively correlated with severe clinical course. (p<0.05). Conclusion: We do not recommend using viral load to predict disease severity in COVID-19. We also found that only ferritin, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase accompanied severe clinical course.