A new study found that patients with inactive cancer and not currently receiving treatment for the deadly disease are also at a much higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19.
The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘JNCI Cancer Spectrum’. Previous reports have established a higher risk of serious disease and death for sick or hospitalized cancer patients with Covid-19 compared to non-cancer patients, but little is known about patients in the general population.
The findings confirm the importance of Covid-19 mitigation, such as social distance and mask wear, and vaccines for all patients, not just those recently diagnosed or with active disease.
“Patients with cancer must be careful not to be exposed during this time,” said senior author Kara N. Maxwell, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Hematology-Oncology and Genetics at Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Abramson Cancer Center and the Basser Center for BRCA.
“That message has been out there, but these latest findings show us that they are not just for patients who are in hospital or treated for cancer. All oncology patients take major steps during the pandemic to protect themselves, “Maxwell said.
The researchers analyzed the records of more than 4,800 patients tested for Covid-19 from Penn Medicine BioBank, a centralized bank of samples, and combined data from the health system’s electronic health records, for analysis. on the association between cancer status and Covid -19 outcomes.
Of the 328 positive cases through June 2020, 67 (20.7 percent) were diagnosed with cancer in their medical history (80.6 percent with solid tumor malignancy and 73.1 percent with inactive cancer).
Patients with Covid-19 had higher hospitalization rates – including both those with active cancer (18) and non-active cancers (49) – compared to non-cancer patients (55.2 percent vs. 29 percent), intensive care unit admissions (25.7 percent vs. 11.7 percent), and 30-day mortality (13.4 percent vs. 1.6 percent). Although worse outcomes were more strongly associated with those with active cancer, patients with greater relief of disease had a higher risk compared with those with Covid-19 patients without cancer.
Notably, the proportion of Black patients – who make up 20 percent of patients in the biobank – was significantly higher both in Covid-19-positive cancer patients and non-biobank. -cancer (65.7 percent and 64.1 percent, respectively) compared with all patients diagnosed for SARS-CoV-2.
The findings of previous parallel reports show the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on minority communities.
“We really need to think of race as an important factor in trying to get people vaccinated as soon as we can,” Maxwell said.
Studies show that cancer patients have a higher risk of Covid-19 complications, due in part to factors such as old age, higher smoking rates, comorbidities, frequent health care exposures, and the impact of cancer treatments. These latest results also suggest cancer itself and its effects on the body may play a role in reducing Covid-19 infections.
“Our finding that cancer patients with Covid-19 were more likely than non-cancer patients to experience hospitalization and death even after adjusting for patient level factors supports the notion that cancer is an independent risk factor for the adverse effects of Covid-19, “they wrote.
In a separate, related study published in the bioRxiv preprint database and not peer-reviewed, Penn Medicine researchers report that cancer patients receiving personal care at a facility with aggressive mitigation efforts very similar to Covid-19 disease. Out of 124 patients in the study receiving treatment at Penn Medicine, none tested positive for the virus after their clinical visits (an average of 13 per patient).
The findings suggest that these efforts, when combined with social distance outside of a health care setting, may help protect vulnerable cancer patients from exposure and exposure. sufferers of Covid-19, even when continuous immunomodulatory cancer treatments and health care publication are required frequently, the authors said.
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This story was published from a wire group group with no text changes. Only the headline has changed.
