COVID-19 and cancer: A comparative case series

Abstract

Background Cancer patients, with an incidence of more than 18 million new cases per year, may constitute a significant portion of the COVID-19 infected population. In the pandemic situation, these patients are considered highly vulnerable to infectious complications due to their immunocompromised state. Material & Methods In this retrospective case series, the documents of solid cancer patients infected by SARS-CoV-2, hospitalized in Shariati hospital between 20 February and 20 April 2020, were evaluated. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was based on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and/or features of chest CT scan highly suggestive for SARS-CoV-2. Results A total of 33 COVID-19-infected cancer patients were included. Mean age was 63.9 years, and 54.5% of the patients were male. LDH level was significantly higher (1487.5±1392.8 vs. 932.3±324.7 U/L, P-value=0.016) and also serum albumin was significantly lower in non-survivors (3.6±0.5 vs. 2.9±0.6 g/dL, p-value=0.03). Among 16 patients with stage IV cancer, thirteen patients died, which was significantly higher compared to stage I-III cancer patients (81.3% vs. 18.8% P-value= <0.001). In terms of developing complications, sepsis, invasive ventilation and mortality was significantly higher in patients who received cytotoxic chemotherapy within the last 14 days. Conclusion In this study, we showed that the mortality rate among cancer patients affected by COVID-19 was higher than general population and this rate has a significant correlation with factors including the stage of the disease, the type of cancer, the activity of cancer and finally receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy within 14 days before diagnosis of COVID-19.

The Outcome of Gynecologic Cancer Patients With Covid-19 Infection: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis

“…15,17,23,29,33,39,43,50,51,56,61 Data from 30 studies revealed that gynecologic cancer had fewer Covid-19 death than lung cancer patients (OR 0.52, CI 0.44-.062, p <0.0001, I 2 0%) Figure 6A . 15,18-21,24-28,30,32,37,39,40-42,45,46,48-50,52-54,57,58 Data from 6 studies showed that gynecologic cancer was having less severity from Covid-19 than lung cancer (OR 0.36, CI 0.16-0.80, p 0.01, I 2 0%) Figure 6B . 24,25,32,53,54,60 Lastly, 2 studies reported fewer hospitalization associated with Covid-19 in gynecologic cancer than lung cancer (OR 0.54, CI 0.40-0.73, p <0.0001, I 2 0%) Figure 6C .…”

“…33,39,49,50,54,55 Gynecologic cancer had fewer Covid-19 associated death compared to other cancer according to 27 studies (OR 0.84, CI 0.72-0.97, p 0.02, I 2 4%) Figure 2. [18][19][20][24][25][26][27][28]30,32,37,[39][40][41][42]45,47,49,[51][52][53][54]56,57,59 Covid-19 associated severity was not statistically significant from 6 studies between gynecologic cancer and other cancer (OR 0.56, CI 0.30-1.03, p 0.06, I 2 0%) Fig. S8.…”

“…36 studies provided data on overall Covid-19 death (1660 gynecologic cancer, 507874 overall control population). 15,16,[18][19][20][21][22][24][25][26][27][28]30,32,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][44][45][46][47][48][49][51][52][53][54]56,57,59 Death was not statistically significant between gynecologic cancer and control (OR 1.31, CI0.85-2.01, p 0.22, I 2 83%) Fig. S3.…”

Outcome of Gynecologic Cancer Patients With The Covid-19 Infection : A Systematic Review And Meta Analysis

“…2. [18][19][20][24][25][26][27][28]30,32,37,[39][40][41][42]45,47,49,[51][52][53][54]56,57,59 Covid-19 associated severity was not statistically signi cant from 6 studies between gynecologic cancer and other cancer (OR 0.56, CI 0.30-1.03, p 0.06, I 2 0%) Fig. S8.…”

“…6A. 15,[18][19][20][21][24][25][26][27][28]30,32,37,39,[40][41][42]45,[47][48][49][51][52][53]56,57 Data from 6 studies showed that gynecologic cancer was having less severity from Covid-19 than lung cancer (OR 0.36, CI 0.16-0.80, p 0.01, I 2 0%) Fig. 6B.…”