Impact of Cancer History on Outcomes Among Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • BACKGROUND: Early reports suggested increased mortality from COVID-19 in patients with cancer but lacked rigorous comparisons to patients without cancer. We investigated whether a current cancer diagnosis or cancer history is an independent risk factor for death in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We identified patients with a history of cancer admitted to two large hospitals between March 13, 2020, and May 10, 2020, with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and matched them 1:2 to patients without a history of cancer. RESULTS: Men made up 56.2% of the population, with a median age of 69 years (range, 30-96). The median time since cancer diagnosis was 35.6 months (range, 0.39-435); 80% had a solid tumor, and 20% had a hematologic malignancy. Among patients with cancer, 27.8% died or entered hospice versus 25.6% among patients without cancer. In multivariable analyses, the odds of death/hospice were similar (odds ratio [OR], 1.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65-1.82). The odds of intubation (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.28-0.78), shock (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.32-0.91), and intensive care unit admission (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.32-0.81) were lower for patients with a history of cancer versus controls. Patients with active cancer or who had received cancer-directed therapy in the past 6 months had similar odds of death/hospice compared with cancer survivors (univariable OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.66-2.60; multivariable OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 0.69-3.16). CONCLUSION: Patients with a history of cancer hospitalized for COVID-19 had similar mortality to matched hospitalized patients with COVID-19 without cancer, and a lower risk of complications. In this population, patients with active cancer or recent cancer treatment had a similar risk for adverse outcomes compared with survivors of cancer. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study investigated whether a current cancer diagnosis or cancer history is an independent risk factor for death or hospice admission in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Active cancer, systemic cancer therapy, and a cancer history are not independent risk factors for death from COVID-19 among hospitalized patients, and hospitalized patients without cancer are more likely to have severe COVID-19. These findings provide reassurance to survivors of cancer and patients with cancer as to their relative risk of severe COVID-19, may encourage oncologists to provide standard anticancer therapy in patients at risk of COVID-19, and guide triage in future waves of infection.

authors

  • Klein, Isaac A
  • Rosenberg, Shoshana
  • Reynolds, Kerry L
  • Zubiri, Leyre
  • Rosovsky, Rachel
  • Piper-Vallillo, Andrew J
  • Gao, Xin
  • Boland, Genevieve
  • Bardia, Aditya
  • Gaither, Rachel
  • Freeman, Hannah
  • Kirkner, Gregory J
  • Rhee, Chanu
  • Klompas, Michael
  • Baker, Meghan A
  • Wadleigh, Martha
  • Winer, Eric P
  • Kotton, Camille N
  • Partridge, Ann H

publication date

  • May 12, 2021

Research

keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Neoplasms

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC8251362

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85105648586

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1101/2020.06.22.20137273

PubMed ID

  • 33856099

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 26

issue

  • 8