High Amounts of SARS-CoV-2 Precede Sickness Among Asymptomatic Health Care Workers.
J Infect Dis
; 224(1): 14-20, 2021 07 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1294728
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positivity among asymptomatic subjects reflects past or future disease may be difficult to ascertain.METHODS:
We tested 9449 employees at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibodies, linked the results to sick leave records, and determined associations with past or future sick leave using multinomial logistic regression.RESULTS:
Subjects with high amounts of SARS-CoV-2 virus, indicated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycle threshold (Ct) value, had the highest risk for sick leave in the 2 weeks after testing (odds ratio [OR], 11.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.29-22.80) whereas subjects with low amounts of virus had the highest risk for sick leave in the 3 weeks before testing (OR, 6.31; 95% CI, 4.38-9.08). Only 2.5% of employees were SARS-CoV-2 positive while 10.5% were positive by serology and 1.2% were positive in both tests. Serology-positive subjects were not at excess risk for future sick leave (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, .71-1.57).CONCLUSIONS:
High amounts of SARS-CoV-2 virus, as determined using PCR Ct values, was associated with development of sickness in the next few weeks. Results support the concept that PCR Ct may be informative when testing for SARS-CoV-2. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT04411576.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Health Personnel
/
Asymptomatic Diseases
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
J Infect Dis
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Infdis
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