Association of Viral Load in SARS-CoV-2 Patients With Age and Gender

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global public health emergency. Age and sex are two important factors associated with risks and outcomes of various diseases. COVID-19 morbidity also seems to be affected by patient age and sex. It has been found that older age groups have more severe COVID-19 symptoms and higher fatality rates while children tend to have lower prevalence and milder symptoms than adults. Methods: The study reviewed electronic medical records of COVID-19 patients from Madinah city, Saudi Arabia. The study included all cases who tested positive (n = 3,006) between March 20 and May 22, 2020. Data were obtained from the Health Electronic Surveillance Network (HESN) database. Results: Approximately 80% of the study sample were males and half were in the 30–40-year-old age group. The Ct value of the whole sample ranged from 15.08 to 35, with a mean of 27.44 (SD: 5.23; 95% C.I. = 27.25–27.66). The means of Ct values varied between age groups from 27.05 to 27.82. Analysis of the mean differences between age groups using one-way ANOVA indicated no statistically significant difference among the groups (F6,2999 = 1.63; p-value = 0.135). A comparison of mean Ct values of males (n = 2,422) and females (n = 584) revealed that males had a statistically significant higher mean Ct value (27.61 ± 5.20) than females (26.72 ± 5.31). The difference between the means of the two groups was −0.89 (95% C.I. = −1.36 to −0.42; t-test −3.71; df = 3,004; p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: The study found no statistically significant difference in viral loads between age groups. It showed that females had a higher SARS-CoV-2 viral load compared to males. The findings have implications for preventive strategies. Further studies are needed to correlate viral load with clinical symptoms and outcomes.