• Catherine A Hogan, Bryan A Stevens, Malaya K Sahoo, ChunHong Huang, Natasha Garamani, Saurabh Gombar, Fumiko Yamamoto, Kanagavel Murugesan, Jason Kurzer, James Zehnder, and Benjamin A Pinsky.
• Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
• Clin. Infect. Dis. 2021 May 4; 72 (9): e291-e295.

BackgroundDetection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in blood, also known as RNAemia, has been reported, but its prognostic implications are poorly understood. This study aimed to determine the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in plasma and its association with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) clinical severity.MethodsAn analytical cross-sectional study was performed in a single-center tertiary care institution and included consecutive inpatients and outpatients with confirmed COVID-19. The prevalence of SARS CoV-2 RNAemia and the strength of its association with clinical severity variables were examined and included intensive care unit (ICU) admission, invasive mechanical ventilation, and 30-day all-cause mortality.ResultsPaired nasopharyngeal and plasma samples were included from 85 patients. The median age was 55 years, and individuals with RNAemia were older than those with undetectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA in plasma (63 vs 50 years; P = .04). Comorbidities were frequent including obesity (37.6%), hypertension (30.6%), and diabetes mellitus (22.4%). RNAemia was detected in 28/85 (32.9%) of patients, including 22/28 (78.6%) who required hospitalization. In models adjusted for age, RNAemia was detected more frequently in individuals who developed severe disease including ICU admission (32.1 vs 14.0%; P = .04) and invasive mechanical ventilation (21.4% vs 3.5%; P = .02). All 4 deaths occurred in individuals with detectable RNAemia. An additional 121 plasma samples from 28 individuals with RNAemia were assessed longitudinally, and RNA was detected for a maximum duration of 10 days.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated a high proportion of SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia, and an association between RNAemia and clinical severity suggesting the potential utility of plasma viral testing as a prognostic indicator for COVID-19.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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