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CMV seropositivity is a potential novel risk factor for severe COVID-19 in non-geriatric patients (preprint)
medrxiv; 2021.
Preprint in English | medRxiv | ID: ppzbmed-10.1101.2021.12.22.21268268
ABSTRACT

Background:

COVID-19 has so far affected more than 250 million individuals worldwide, causing more than 5 million deaths. Several risk factors for severe disease have been identified, most of which coincide with advanced age. In younger individuals, severe COVID-19 often occurs in the absence of obvious comorbidities. Guided by the finding of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific T cells with some cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 in a COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) patient, we decided to investigate whether CMV seropositivity is associated with severe or critical COVID-19.

Methods:

National German COVID-19 bio-sample and data banks were used to retrospectively analyze the CMV serostatus of patients who experienced mild (n=101), moderate (n=130) or severe to critical (n=80) disease by CMV IgG serology. We then investigated the relationship between disease severity and CMV serostatus via statistical models.

Results:

Non-geriatric patients (< 70 years) with severe COVID-19 were found to have a very high prevalence of CMV-seropositivity, while CMV status distribution in individuals with mild disease was similar to the prevalence in the German population; interestingly, this was not detectable in older patients. Prediction models support the hypothesis that the CMV serostatus might be a strong biomarker in identifying younger individuals with a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Conclusions:

We identified CMV-seropositivity as a potential novel risk factor for severe COVID-19 in non-geriatric individuals in the studied cohorts. More mechanistic analyses as well as confirmation of similar findings in cohorts representing the currently most relevant SARS-CoV-2 variants should be performed shortly.
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Full text: Available Collection: Preprints Database: medRxiv Main subject: Cytomegalovirus Infections / COVID-19 Language: English Year: 2021 Document Type: Preprint

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Full text: Available Collection: Preprints Database: medRxiv Main subject: Cytomegalovirus Infections / COVID-19 Language: English Year: 2021 Document Type: Preprint