Virology

Comparison of Upper Respiratory Viral Load Distributions in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Children Diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pediatric Hospital Testing Programs

Larry K. Kociolek, William J. Muller, Rebecca Yee, Jennifer Dien Bard, Cameron A. Brown, Paula A. Revell, Hanna Wardell, Timothy J. Savage, Sarah Jung, Samuel Dominguez, Bijal A. Parikh, Robert C. Jerris, Sue C. Kehl, Aaron Campigotto, Jeffrey M. Bender, Xiaotian Zheng, Emily Muscat, Matthew Linam, Lisa Abuogi, Christiana Smith, Kelly Graff, Ariel Hernandez-Leyva, David Williams, Nira R. Pollock
Randall Hayden, Editor
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02593-20

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • FIG 1
    FIG 1

    Comparison of adjusted Ct values (A) and estimated viral loads (B) for asymptomatic (n = 339) versus symptomatic (n = 478) children. The bottom and top edges of the boxes for each cohort indicate the interquartile range (IQR), the horizontal line bisecting the box indicates the median value, and the whiskers represent values 1.5 times the IQR. P values for comparison of the respective medians are shown.

  • FIG 2
    FIG 2

    Comparison of adjusted Ct values (A) and estimated viral loads (B) for asymptomatic versus symptomatic children, separated by age brackets (118 asymptomatic versus 197 symptomatic children aged 0 to 4 years, 79 asymptomatic versus 97 symptomatic children aged 5 to 9 years, 69 asymptomatic versus 75 symptomatic children aged 10 to 13 years, 73 asymptomatic versus 109 symptomatic children aged 14 to 17 years). The bottom and top edges of the boxes for each cohort indicate the interquartile range (IQR), the horizontal line bisecting the box indicates the median value, and the whiskers represent values 1.5 times the IQR.

  • FIG 3
    FIG 3

    Comparison of adjusted Ct values (A) and estimated viral loads (B) for asymptomatic children tested for three different indications (surveillance, preop/aerosol-generating procedure, and preadmission) versus symptomatic children. The bottom and top edges of the boxes for each cohort indicate the interquartile range (IQR), the horizontal line bisecting the box indicates the median value, and the whiskers represent values 1.5 times the IQR. The P values for the comparison of the medians of the surveillance and preprocedure groups are shown.

Tables

  • TABLE 1

    Study participants and demographics

    TABLE 1

    • ↵a “Other” reflects the response of patients that did not wish to select one of the other race categories, based on chart review. Includes American Indian/Alaska Native (n = 1), Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (n = 1).

  • TABLE 2

    Estimated risks for being in the lowest quartile of adjusted Ct values or highest quartile of estimated viral loads in the asymptomatic populationa

    TABLE 2

    • ↵a The lowest quartile of adjusted Ct values was <2.47 (n = 84), and the highest quartile of estimated viral loads was ≥1.7 × 105 copies/ml (n = 86).

    • ↵b “Other” reflects the response of patients that did not wish to select one of the other race categories, based on chart review.

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KEYWORDS

COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
diagnostics
pediatric infectious disease

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