• Aifen Lin, Ze-Bao He, Sheng Zhang, Jian-Gang Zhang, Xia Zhang, and Wei-Hua Yan.
• Biological Resource Center, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Taizhou Enze Medical Center (Group), Linhai, Zhejiang, China.
• Clin. Infect. Dis. 2020 Nov 19; 71 (16): 2061-2065.

BackgroundPneumonia coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has became a pandemic. However, information on early risk factors for the duration of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral positivity is not yet available.MethodsIn this prospective study, a cohort of 137 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 were enrolled. Clinical information and laboratory data were retrieved from electronic medical records. Viral positivity duration was calculated by the interval from the day of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 positive results to the day SARS-CoV-2 testing showed negative results in these 137 patients with COVID-19. Early risk factors for the duration of SARS-CoV-2 viral positivity were evaluated.ResultsThe median SARS-CoV-2 viral positivity duration is 12 days (range, 4 to ~45) for this cohort. Cox regression results showed a significantly shorter viral positivity duration was related to younger age (hazard ratio [HR], .658; P = .017); disease not being severe (HR, .653; P = .076); higher lymphocyte (HR, 1.464; P = .033), eosinophil (HR, 1.514; P = .020), and CD8+ T-cell (HR, 1.745; P = .033) counts; and lower IL-6 (HR, .664; P = .036) and IL-10 (HR, .631; P = .021). Multivariate analysis with covariable-adjusted results showed that the CD8+ T-cell count (HR, 2.376; P= .114) was a predominant risk factor for the duration of SARS-CoV-2 viral positivity.ConclusionsOur findings show early laboratory parameters such as CD8+ T-cell count to be risk factors for the duration of SARS-CoV-2 viral positivity, which has significance in the control and prevention of the disease.© 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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