Why the elderly appear to be more severely affected by COVID‐19: The potential role of immunosenescence and CMV
Open accessAbstract
Summary: The significantly higher mortality rates seen in the elderly compared with young children during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) pandemic is likely to be driven in part by an impaired immune response in older individuals. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) seroprevalence approaches 80% in the elderly. CMV has been shown to accelerate immune ageing by affecting peripheral blood T cell phenotypes and increasing inflammatory mediated cytokines such as IL‐6. The elderly with pre‐existing but clinically silent CMV infection may therefore be particularly susceptible to severe Covid‐19 disease and succumb to a cytokine storm which may have been promoted by CMV. Here, we evaluate the potential role of CMV in those with severe Covid‐19 disease and consider how this relationship can be investigated in current research studies.
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CMV serostatus has been associated with poorer responses to vaccination and infections.
“CMV serostatus has been associated with poorer responses to vaccination and infections 15,16 .”
From Age-related immune response heterogeneity to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine BNT162b2 (2021) · cites this paper as [16]
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References 42 · Cited by 118
- Authors
- Kadambari, S., Klenerman, P., & Pollard, A. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Kadambari, Seilesh
- Venue
- Reviews in Medical Virology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-07-15
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e2144-e2144
- ISSN
- 1052-9276 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-1654
- PMC
- PMC7404358
- OpenAlex
- W3042182340
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2025: 11 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 9
- FWCI
- 3.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Reviews in Medical Virology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (109965/Z/15/Z)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0617-10036, NF-SI-0515-10005)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, immunosenescence, cytomegalovirus, older adults, T cell phenotype, cytokine storm, interleukin-6, inflammatory cytokines
- MeSH terms
- Immunosenescence, Betacoronavirus, Cytokine Release Syndrome, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Age Factors, Aged, Child, Cytomegalovirus Infections, Cytomegalovirus, Humans, Pneumonia, Viral, Severity of Illness Index, T-Lymphocytes, Survival Analysis, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Cytokines, Coronavirus Infections, Disease Progression, Pandemics, Coinfection
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