Introduction In this study, we aim to report the outcome of COVID‐19 in patients with hematological malignancy in Turkey. Method The data of laboratory‐confirmed 188,897 COVID‐19 patients diagnosed between March 11, 2020 and June 22, 2020 included in the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Health database were analyzed retrospectively. All of the COVID‐19 patients with hematological malignancy (n=740) were included in the study and an age, gender and comorbidity matched COVID‐19 patients without cancer (n=740) at 1:1 ratio was used for comparison. Results Non Hodgkin lymphoma (30.1%), myelodysplastic syndrome (19.7%), myeloproliferative neoplasm (15.7%), were the most common hematological malignancies. The rates of severe and critical disease were significantly higher in patients with hematological malignancy compared to the patients without cancer (p=0.001). The rates of hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admission were higher in patients with hematological malignancy compared to the patients without cancer (p=0.023, p=0.001, respectively). The length of hospital stay and ICU stay were similar between groups (p=0.7, p=0.3; retrospectively). The rate of mechanical ventilation (MV) support was higher in patients with hematological malignancy compared to the control group (p=0.001). The case fatality rate (CFR) was 13.8% in patients with hematological malignancy, and it was 6.8% in the control group (p=0.001). Conclusion This study reveals that there is an increased risk of COVID‐19 related serious events (ICU admission, MV support or death) in patients with hematological malignancy compared to COVID‐19 patients without cancer and supports high vulnerability of patients with hematological malignancy in the current pandemic. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

In this study, we aim to report the outcome of COVID-19 in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. HCT recipients (n = 32) with hematological disease and hospitalized for COVID-19 were included in the study. A cohort of age and comorbid disease-matched hospitalized COVID-19 patients with hematological malignancy but not underwent HCT (n = 465), and another cohort of age and comorbid disease-matched hospitalized COVID-19 patients without cancer (n = 497) were also included in the study for comparison. Case fatality rate (CFR) was 5.6% in patients without cancer, 11.8 in patients with hematological malignancy and 15.6% in HCT recipients. The CFR in HCT recipients who were not receiving immunosuppressive agents at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis was 11.5%, whereas it was 33% in HCT recipients who were receiving an immunosuppressive agent at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis. In conclusion, our study reveals that for the current pandemic, HCT recipients, especially those receiving immunosuppressive drugs, constitute a special population of cancer patients.

Passive antibody therapy has been used to immunize vulnerable people against infectious agents. In this study, we aim to investigate the efficacy of convalescent plasma (CP) in the treatment of severe and critically ill patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Method: The data of severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients who received anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-containing CP along with the antiviral treatment (n = 888) and an age-gender, comorbidity, and other COVID-19 treatments matched severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients at 1:1 ratio (n = 888) were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Duration in the intensive care unit (ICU), the rate of mechanical ventilation (MV) support and vasopressor support were lower in CP group compared with the control group (p = 0.001, p = 0.02, p = 0.001, respectively). The case fatality rate (CFR) was 24.7 % in the CP group, and it was 27.7 % in the control group. Administration of CP 20 days after the COVID-19 diagnosis or COVID-19 related symptoms were associated with a higher rate of MV support compared with the first 3 interval groups (≤5 days, 6− 10 days, 11− 15 days) (p=0.001). Conclusion: CP therapy seems to be effective for a better course of COVID-19 in severe and critically ill patients.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular mortality is increased in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. We evaluated the association of inflammatory response with platelet, endothelial, coagulation activation parameters; and subclinical atherosclerosis in RA patients. We included 27 RA patients (21 female; six male) and 19 healthy subjects (14 female; five male). Disease activity score (DAS28) in RA patients was calculated; and patients were divided into two groups as active and inactive. Flow cytometry was used to determine platelet CD62P expression, platelet microparticles (PMP), platelet-monocyte (PMC) and platelet-neutrophil complexes (PNC). Plasma E-selectin, thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) complex, and serum sCD40L levels were determined by ELISA. The intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries was determined by B-mode ultrasonography. In RA patients, platelet CD62P expression (p < 0.001), PMC (p = 0.037) and sCD40L (p < 0.001) levels were increased when compared to the control group. PNC (p = 0.07) and TAT levels (p = 0.1) were non-significantly higher, and PMP level (p = 0.075) was nonsignificantly lower in RA patients. Soluble E-selectin level was significantly higher in the active RA group than in the inactive RA group (p = 0.009). There was no correlation between carotid IMT and activity markers, the evaluated parameters (p > 0.05).The increase in markers of active platelets, CD62P and sCD40L, and PMC levels might be associated with the increased cardiovascular mortality in RA. Nevertheless, none of these parameters were associated with carotid IMT: this suggests that one cross-sectional value might not be a good marker for atherosclerosis

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the author's interest in our paper, and we are also grateful for her adding invaluable contribution to improve the value of our paper. Unfortunately, during the current pandemic, more than 1 million people died because of COVID-19, and millions of people needed hospitalization, and some needed intensive care unit (ICU) support. Until the active vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 reaches large populations, effective treatments and supportive approaches are crucial to reduce the case fatality rate (CFR) and the need for ICU and hospitalization. Most of the previous studies about SARS-CoV-2 antibody containing convalescent plasma (CP) are not randomized. There is only a limited number of randomized studies, and in most of these randomized studies, they did not use age, gender, and comorbidity matched control group for comparison. Older age and comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or cardiac disease are the risk factors for a more aggressive clinical course in patients with COVID-19 [1,2]. For this reason, in the design of this study, we preferred to use an age, gender, and comorbidity matched group for comparison. The study group was severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients who received anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-containing CP along with the antiviral treatment (n = 888), and the control group was composed of at 1:1 ratio (n = 888). In total, the data of laboratory-confirmed 1776 COVID-19 patients were analyzed retrospectively. Both groups were consisting of severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients; in addition, selecting an age, gender, and comorbidity matched control group made the results of the comparison stronger [3]. The author reasonably wanted to know if the use of steroids and/or anticoagulants was similar in patients across the groups [4]. However, this data was not available. Instead, the data about the use of favipravir, lopinavir + ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, high dose vitamin C, and azithromycin was available, and we demonstrated them in Table 1. The