SynthesisImmunity, inflammation and disease2022
The relationship between COVID-19 viral load and disease severity: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Immunity, inflammation and disease, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of self-isolation on psychological wellbeing in adults and how to reduce it: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring COVID-19 Pandemic Disparities with Transcriptomic Meta-analysis from the Perspective of Personalized Medicine.Journal of microbiology (Seoul, Korea) · 2024Pooled it
- The effect of macronutrient and micronutrient supplements on COVID-19: an umbrella review.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery and treatment outcomes in people living with HIV: a systematic review.AIDS research and therapy · 2023Pooled it
- COVID-19 mortality in patients with immunodeficiency and its predictors: a systematic review.European journal of medical research · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between COVID-19 viral load and disease severity: A systematic review.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2022Pooled it
- Safety of baricitinib in vaccinated patients with severe and critical COVID-19 sub study of the randomised Bari-SolidAct trial.EBioMedicine · 2025Trial
- Diagnostic Performance Evaluation of the GXT96 X3 Extraction System with the FluoroTypeDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Revisiting Strategies for Bacterial Enumeration: The Case for Viable but Nonculturable (VBNC) Cells in Supplement Products.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Risk factors associated with mortality among patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit: prospective cohort study from the early pandemic phase in Brazil.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2026Article
- Genetic variations in AAK1 and ADAM17 associated with circulatory cytokines changes influence COVID-19 susceptibility and severity.Human genomics · 2026Article
- Association of human leukocyte antigen B genotypes with COVID-19 severity in Egyptian patients.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Longitudinal multi-omic dynamics in hospitalized COVID-19 patients based on disease severity.Gut microbes reports · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection With Alpha B.1.1.7 Virus Induced Higher Antibody Responses Than Earlier Non-VOC Variants During the First Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Norway.APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica · 2025Article
- Epigenetic liquid biopsies reveal endothelial turnover and erythropoiesis in asymptomatic COVID-19.Life science alliance · 2025Article
- The effect of COVID-19 vaccination on viral load among health care workers: a retrospective cohort study.Clinical and experimental vaccine research · 2025Article
- Gut Microbial Signatures in Long COVID: Potential Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2025Article
- The Role of Serial Monitoring of Laboratory Parameters in Determining the Need for Intensive Care in Severe COVID-19: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.Infectious diseases & clinical microbiology · 2025Article
- Genetic and Inflammatory Signatures Associated With Worse Prognosis in Hospitalized Patients With Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection With and Without Diabetes.Journal of medical virology · 2025Article
- Association of TLR8 Variants in Sex-Based Clinical Differences in Patients with COVID-19.Biochemical genetics · 2025Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPatients with COVID-19 may present different viral loads levels. However, the relationship between viral load and disease severity in COVID-19 is still unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review the association between SARS-CoV-2 viral load and COVID-19 severity.
methodsThe relevant studies using the keywords of "COVID-19" and "viral load" were searched in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. A two-step title/abstract screening process was carried out and the eligible studies were included in the study.
resultsThirty-four studies were included from the initial 1015 records. The vast majority of studies have utilized real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction of the nasopharyngeal/respiratory swabs to report viral load. Viral loads were commonly reported either as cycle threshold (C
conclusionThe 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.