{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,24]],"date-time":"2026-06-24T08:37:33Z","timestamp":1782290253758,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,23]],"date-time":"2021-07-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626998400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite a clear association of patient\u2019s age with COVID-19 severity, there has been conflicting data on the association of viral load with disease severity. Here, we investigated the association of viral load dynamics with patient\u2019s age and severity of COVID-19 using a set of respiratory specimens longitudinally collected (mean: 4.8 times\/patient) from 64 patients with broad distribution of clinical severity and age during acute phase. Higher viral burden was positively associated with inflammatory responses, as assessed by IL-6, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase levels in patients\u2019 plasma collected on the same day, primarily in the younger cohort (\u226459 years old) and in mild cases of all ages, whereas these were barely detectable in elderly patients (\u226560 years old) with critical disease. In addition, viral load dynamics in elderly patients were not significantly different between mild and critical cases, even though more enhanced inflammation was consistently observed in the elderly group when compared to the younger group during the acute phase of infection. The positive correlation of viral load with disease severity in younger patients may explain the increased therapeutic responsiveness to current antiviral drugs and neutralizing antibody therapies in younger patients compared to elderly patients. More careful intervention against aging-associated inflammation might be required to mitigate severe disease progression and reduce fatality in COVID-19 patients more than 60 years old.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2021.712260","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,23]],"date-time":"2021-07-23T12:08:11Z","timestamp":1627042091000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Differential Association of Viral Dynamics With Disease Severity Depending on Patients\u2019 Age Group in COVID-19"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Yuri","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shinhyea","family":"Cheon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyeongseok","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Uni","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Na-Young","family":"Ha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jooyeon","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kyung Mok","family":"Sohn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yeon-Sook","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nam-Hyuk","family":"Cho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"256","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abb0762","article-title":"Aging immunity may exacerbate Covid-19.","volume":"369","author":"Abar","year":"2020","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2020.571416","article-title":"Aging, Immunity, and COVID-19: how Age Influences the Host Immune Response to Coronavirus Infections?.","volume":"11","author":"Bajaj","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. 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