When cancer patients encountered COVID-19: clinical characteristics and outcome in China

Introduction: Cancer patients were more likely to be affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Therefore, we analyzed the clinical characteristics and outcomes in cancer patients who were infected with COVID-19 to determine if they were more vulnerable to COVID-19 than non-cancer patients.

Methodology: This retrospective study involved 150 cancer patients and 300 non-cancer patients with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, at the end of 2022. Multivariable analysis was carried out on the factors associated with COVID-19 severity in cancer patients.

Results: Compared to the non-cancer group, the cancer group saw a notably higher number of hospitalizations and fatalities. Multivariate analysis showed that COVID-19 severity was correlated with male gender (OR: 5.60, 95% CI, 1.89-16.57), and recovery duration was longer than 10 days (OR: 3.19, 95% CI, 1.09-9.32) in the cancer group. However, the severity of COVID-19 was not made worse by the administration of systemic anticancer treatments prior to the outbreak.

Conclusions: During the COVID-19 Omicron epidemic, there seemed to be some association between various antitumor therapies, treatment intervals, and COVID-19 severity. The findings of this study can potentially help allay cancer patients` fears regarding COVID-19 infection and enable them to continue with crucial therapeutic processes for the treatment of cancer.