The relationship between COVID-19 viral load and disease severity: A systematic review.
Omid DadrasAmir M AfsahiZahra PashaeiHengameh MojdeganlouAmirali KarimiPedram HabibiAlireza BarzegaryAmirata FakhfouriPegah MirzapourNazanin JanfazaSoheil DehghaniFatemeh AfroughiMohsen DashtiSepideh KhodaeiSeyed Ahmad Seyed AlinaghiFabricio VoltarelliJean-Marc SabatierSeyed Ahmad Seyed AlinaghiPublished in: Immunity, inflammation and disease (2021)
The results were inconclusive about the relationship between COVID-19 severity and viral load, as a similar number of studies either approved or opposed this hypothesis. However, the studies denote the direct relationship between older age and higher SARS-CoV-2 viral load, which is a known risk factor for COVID-19 mortality. The higher viral load in older patients may serve as a mechanism for any possible relationships between COVID-19 viral load and disease severity. There was a positive correlation between SARS-CoV-2 viral load and its transmissibility. Nonetheless, further studies are recommended to precisely characterize this matter.