Factors Associated with Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 Viral Positivity in an Italian Cohort of Hospitalized Patients
Simona De Grazia,
Francesco Pollicino,
Chiara Giannettino,
Chiara Maria Errera,
Nicola Veronese,
Giovanni M. Giammanco,
Federica Cacioppo,
Giuseppa Luisa Sanfilippo,
Mario Barbagallo,
COMEPA Study Authors
Affiliations
Simona De Grazia
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Francesco Pollicino
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Chiara Giannettino
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Chiara Maria Errera
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Nicola Veronese
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Giovanni M. Giammanco
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Federica Cacioppo
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Giuseppa Luisa Sanfilippo
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Mario Barbagallo
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
COMEPA Study Authors
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Clinical or microbiological factors potentially associated with prolonged COVID-19 PCR positivity are still poorly underexplored, but they could be of importance for public-health and clinical reasons. The objective of our analysis is to explore demographic, clinical, and microbiological factors potentially associated with a prolonged positivity to SARS-CoV-2 among 222 hospitalized patients. Prolonged detection positivity for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in swap samples, defined as positivity more than 21 days, was the outcome of interest. The 56 cases with a prolonged positivity to SARS-CoV-2 were matched for age and sex with 156 controls. The cases reported a significantly higher presence of diabetes mellitus, autoimmune diseases, chronic kidney diseases, and acute coronary syndrome. Moreover, the viral load was significantly higher in a period of prolonged positivity compared to a normal period. In the multivariable analysis, the presence of autoimmune diseases and chronic kidney disease were significantly associated with an increased risk of prolonged positivity as well as medium viral load or high viral load, i.e., low Ct value ≤ 30 indicating high viral load. The results of this study confirmed that in a large population of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 manifestations, the prolonged positivity of SARS-CoV-2 detection with nasopharyngeal swab was mainly related to autoimmune diseases, chronic kidney disease, and to baseline viral load.
