Patients in cancer remission at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease

Patients with inactive cancer who are not currently receiving treatment are also at significantly higher risk of serious illness due to COVID-19. This is a new study of pen medicine published online today. JNCI cancer spectrum show. Previous reports have demonstrated that patients with COVID-19 illness or hospitalized cancer are at increased risk of serious illness and death compared to patients without cancer, but for the general population of patients Little known.

The findings emphasize the importance of COVID-19 mitigation, such as social distance and wearing masks, and the importance of vaccination for all patients, not just those with recently diagnosed or active illnesses. I will.

“Patients who have cancer Care must be taken not to expose during this period, “said senior author Kara N. Maxwell, MD, Ph.D., an assistant professor of hematology and genetics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Says. A member of the Abramson Cancer Center and the BRCA Basser Center. “The message was there, but these latest findings show that it’s not just for hospitalized and cancer-treated patients. All tumor patients are on a pandemic. You need to take important precautions to protect yourself. “

The researchers analyzed the records of more than 4,800 patients tested for COVID-19 from the University of Pennsylvania Biobank. This is a centralized bank of samples and linked data for healthcare systems. Electronic health recordInvestigate the association between cancer status and COVID-19 results. Of the 328 positive cases up to June 2020, 67 (20.7%) Cancer diagnosis In their medical history (80.6% for solid tumor malignancies, 73.1% for inactive cancers).

Patients with COVID-19, including both active and inactive cancers (49), showed higher hospitalization rates compared to inactive cancers.Cancer patients (55.2 percent vs. 29 percent), hospitalization in the intensive care unit (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 patients with active cancer, patients in remission also had an overall increased risk of more serious illness compared to patients without cancer COVID-19. Faced with.

In particular, the proportion of black patients, who account for 20% of biobank patients, was significantly higher in both cancer and non-cancer COVID-19-positive patients (65.7% and 64.1, respectively) compared to all patients tested. %). For SARS-CoV-2.

The findings are parallel to previous reports showing the imbalanced effects of COVID-19. Minority community..

“We really need to think about race as an important factor in getting people to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” Maxwell said.

Studies have shown that cancer patients are at increased risk of COVID-19 complications due to factors such as older age, increased smoking prevalence, complications, frequent medical exposure, and the effectiveness of cancer treatments. These latest results also suggest that the effects on the cancer itself and its body may play a role in exacerbating COVID-19 infection.

“Our finding that cancer patients with COVID-19 are more likely to experience hospitalization and death than non-cancer patients after adjusting for patient-level factors is that cancer is independent of poor COVID-19 outcomes. We support the hypothesis that it is a risk factor, “they said. I have written.

In another related study Penn medical researchers, published in the preprint database bioRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed, are proactively making palliative efforts. Cancer patients undergoing face-to-face treatment at institutions may be infected with COVID-19. Reports very low. Of the 124 patients in the study being treated at the University of Pennsylvania, none were tested positive for the virus after a clinical visit (mean 13 per patient).

The results suggest that these efforts, when combined with social distance outside the medical setting, may help protect vulnerable cancers. patient The authors noted that even if continuous immunomodulatory cancer treatment and frequent medical exposure are required from COVID-19 exposure and infection.