Is the Infection of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Associated With the Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients?

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant (B.1.617.2) has been responsible for the current increase in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infectivity rate worldwide. We compared the impact of the Delta variant and non-Delta variant on the COVID-19 outcomes in patients from Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, Indonesia. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we ascertained 161 patients, 69 with the Delta variant and 92 with the non-Delta variant. The Illumina MiSeq next-generation sequencer was used to perform the whole-genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2. Results: The mean age of patients with the Delta variant and the non-Delta variant was 27.3 ± 20.0 and 43.0 ± 20.9 (p = 3 × 10−6). The patients with Delta variant consisted of 23 males and 46 females, while the patients with the non-Delta variant involved 56 males and 36 females (p = 0.001). The Ct value of the Delta variant (18.4 ± 2.9) was significantly lower than that of the non-Delta variant (19.5 ± 3.8) (p = 0.043). There was no significant difference in the hospitalization and mortality of patients with Delta and non-Delta variants (p = 0.80 and 0.29, respectively). None of the prognostic factors were associated with the hospitalization, except diabetes with an OR of 3.6 (95 CI = 1.02–12.5; p = 0.036). Moreover, the patients with the following factors have been associated with higher mortality rate than the patients without the factors: age ≥65 years, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease with the OR of 11 (95 CI = 3.4–36; p = 8 × 10−5), 27 (95 CI = 6.1–118; p = 1 × 10−5), 15.6 (95 CI = 5.3–46; p = 6 × 10−7), 12 (95 CI = 4–35.3; p = 1.2 × 10−5), and 6.8 (95 CI = 2.1–22.1; p = 0.003), respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age ≥65 years, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension were the strong prognostic factors for the mortality of COVID-19 patients with the OR of 3.6 (95 CI = 0.58–21.9; p = 0.028), 16.6 (95 CI = 2.5–107.1; p = 0.003), 5.5 (95 CI = 1.3–23.7; p = 0.021), and 5.8 (95 CI = 1.02–32.8; p = 0.047), respectively. Conclusions: We show that the patients infected by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant have a lower Ct value than the patients infected by the non-Delta variant, implying that the Delta variant has a higher viral load, which might cause a more transmissible virus among humans. However, the Delta variant does not affect the COVID-19 outcomes in our patients. Our study also confirms that older age and comorbidity increase the mortality rate of patients with COVID-19. Copyright © 2021 Gunadi, Hakim, Wibawa, Marcellus, Setiawaty, Slamet, Trisnawati, Supriyati, El Khair, Iskandar, Afiahayati, Siswanto, Irene, Anggorowati, Daniwijaya, Nugrahaningsih, Puspadewi, Puspitarani, Tania, Vujira, Ardlyamustaqim, Gabriela, Eryvinka, Nirmala, Geometri, Darutama, Kuswandani, Lestari, Irianingsih, Khoiriyah, Lestari, Ananda, Arguni, Nuryastuti and Wibawa.