COVID‐19 among children with cancer in Greece (2020): Results from the Nationwide Registry of Childhood Hematological Malignancies and Solid Tumors (NARECHEM‐ST)

Baka, Margarita; Michos, Athanasios; Alexopoulou, Alexandra; Bouka, Panagiota; Bouka, Evdoxia; Dana, Edward R.; Dimitriou, Gabriel; Doganis,; Grivea, Ioanna N.; Ioannidou, Maria; Kourti, Maria; Magkou, Evgenia; Makis, Alexandros; Malama, Astero; Mantadakis, Elpis; Mitsios, Andreas; Moschovi, Maria; Papadakis, Vassilios; Panagopoulou, Paraskevi; Παπακωνσταντίνου, Ευγενία; Papadopoulos, Savvas; Polychronopoulou, Sofia; Themistocleous, Marios; Tzotzola, Vasiliki; Ntzani, Evangelia; Petridou, Eleni

doi:10.1002/pbc.29079

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, the limited follow-up time for many of the reported studies rendered us unable to make concrete conclusions about mortality rates for pediatric oncology patients affected by COVID-19. It is also important to note that, while the majority of studies confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in children through RT-PCR, a small subset of studies did not specifically report how the diagnosis of COVID-19 was made (i.e., 7 studies) ( 21 , 24 , 38 , 93 – 96 ); we have included these articles for completeness. Further, several studies included in this review were case reports or cohort/cross-sectional studies written up as letters to the editor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Cancer Outcomes and Care Delivery - A Systematic Review

et al. 2022

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BackgroundChildhood cancer represents a leading cause of death and disease burden in high income countries (HICs) and low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). It is postulated that the current COVID-19 pandemic has hampered global development of pediatric oncology care programs. This systematic review aimed to comprehensively review the global impact of COVID-19 on childhood cancer clinical outcomes and care delivery.MethodsA systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, Medline, and the African Medical Index from inception to November 3, 2021 following PRISMA guidelines. A manual search was performed to identify additional relevant studies. Articles were selected based on predetermined eligibility criteria.FindingsThe majority of studies reported patients with cancer and COVID-19 presenting as asymptomatic (HICs: 33.7%, LMICs: 22.0%) or with primary manifestations of fever (HICs: 36.1%, LMICs: 51.4%) and respiratory symptoms (HICs: 29.6%, LMICs: 11.7%). LMICs also reported a high frequency of patients presenting with cough (23.6%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (10.6%). The majority of patients were generally noted to have a good prognosis; however the crude mortality rate was higher in LMICs when compared to HICs (8.0% vs 1.8%). Moreover, the pandemic has resulted in delays and interruptions to cancer therapies and delays in childhood cancer diagnoses in both HICs and LMICs. However, these findings were disproportionately reported in LMICs, with significant staff shortages, supply chain disruptions, and limited access to cancer therapies for patients.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in delays and interruptions to childhood cancer therapies and delays in childhood cancer diagnoses, and disproportionately so within LMICs. This review provides lessons learned for future system-wide disruptions to care, as well as provides key points for moving forward better with care through the remainder of this pandemic.Systematic Review RegistrationCRD42021266758, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=266758

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Cancer Outcomes and Care Delivery - A Systematic Review

et al. 2022

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“…We screened a total of 2759 records after transferring the databases results without duplicates. We further assessed 61 full texts for eligibility which ended up with a total of 21 articles including 14 studies and additional seven studies following manual search procedures 7 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 (Figure 1 , Table 1 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID‐19 outcomes in paediatric cancer: A large scale pooled meta‐analysis of 984 cancer patients

El‐Qushayri

Benmelouka²,

Dahy

et al. 2022

Reviews in Medical Virology

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We aimed to study the outcomes of COVID‐19 in paediatric cancer patients. On 26 October 2021, we did a systematic search for relevant articles in seven electronic databases followed by manual search. We included cancer patients aged ≤18 years. Event rates and the 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to report the results. We included 21 papers after screening of 2759 records. The pooled rates of hospitalisation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality were 44% (95%CI: 30–59), 14% (95%CI: 9–21) and 9% (95%CI: 6–12), respectively. Moreover, subgroup analysis revealed that high income countries had better COVID‐19 outcomes compared to upper middle income countries and lower middle income countries in terms of hospitalisation 30% (95%CI: 17–46), 60% (95%CI: 29–84) and 47% (95%CI: 36–58), ICU admission 7% (95%CI: 1–32), 13% (95%CI: 7–23) and 18% (95%CI: 6–41), and mortality 3% (95%CI: 2–5), 12% (95%CI: 8–18) and 13% (95%CI: 8–20), in order. In general, absence of specific pharmacologic intervention to prevent infection with the scarcity of vaccination coverage data among paediatric groups and its impact, high priority caution is required to avoid SARS‐CoV‐2 infection among paediatric cancer patients. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of promoting care facilities for this vulnerable population in low and middle income regions to ensure quality care among cancer patients during pandemic crisis.

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“…Smaller series from Greece and Brazil reported mild disease courses, whereas data from the United Kingdom and the United States noted an approximately 10% incidence of severe disease. [19][20][21][22] More recently, a large registry-based study reported a 7.4% chance of severe disease and 2% mortality in high-income countries. 23 Another large observational study of 917 American children with cancer found that 9.2% were admitted to the ICU and 1.6% died.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk of COVID-19 Infections and of Severe Complications Among Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer: A Population-Based Study in Ontario, Canada

Gupta

Sutradhar

Alexander

et al. 2022

JCO

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PURPOSE Survivors of childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer are at risk of late effects, including pulmonary and infectious complications. Whether survivors are at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and severe complications is unknown. METHODS Population-based registries in Ontario, Canada, identified all 5-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed age 0-17 years between 1985 and 2014, and of six common adolescent and young adult cancers diagnosed age 15-21 years between 1992 and 2012. Each survivor alive on January 1, 2020, was randomly matched by birth year, sex, and residence to 10 cancer-free population controls. Individuals were linked to population-based laboratory and health care databases to identify COVID-19 tests, vaccinations, infections, and severe outcomes (emergency department [ED] visits, hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and death within 60 days). Demographic, disease, and treatment-related variables were examined as possible predictors of outcomes. RESULTS Twelve thousand four hundred ten survivors were matched to 124,100 controls. Survivors were not at increased risk of receiving a positive COVID-19 test (386 [3.1%] v 3,946 [3.2%]; P = .68) and were more likely to be fully vaccinated (hazard ratio, 1.23; 95 CI, 1.20 to 1.37). No increase in risk among survivors was seen in emergency department visits (adjusted odds ratio, 1.2; 95 CI, 0.9 to 1.6; P = .19) or hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio, 1.8; 95 CI, 1.0 to 3.5; P = .07). No survivor experienced intensive care unit admission or died after COVID-19 infection. Pulmonary radiation or chemotherapies associated with pulmonary toxicity were not associated with increased risk. CONCLUSION Cancer survivors were not at increased risk of COVID-19 infections or severe sequelae. These results can inform risk-counseling of survivors and their caregivers. Further study is warranted to determine risk in older survivors, specific subsets of survivors, and that associated with novel COVID-19 variants.

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COVID‐19 among children with cancer in Greece (2020): Results from the Nationwide Registry of Childhood Hematological Malignancies and Solid Tumors (NARECHEM‐ST)

Cited by 12 publications

References 7 publications

The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Cancer Outcomes and Care Delivery - A Systematic Review

The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Cancer Outcomes and Care Delivery - A Systematic Review

COVID‐19 outcomes in paediatric cancer: A large scale pooled meta‐analysis of 984 cancer patients

Risk of COVID-19 Infections and of Severe Complications Among Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer: A Population-Based Study in Ontario, Canada

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