ABSTRACT
Introduction: Morbidity and mortality of cancer patients with COVID-19 have not been examined. The goal of thisanalysis was to compare the demographics and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 cancer patients to the rest ofCOVID-19 patients and assess whether cancer is associated with morbidity or mortality. Methods: COVID-19-positive patients with an inpatient or emergency encounter at the Mount Sinai Health Systembetween 03/01/20-05/27/20 were included in the analysis. Patients were compared across cancer status(noncancer, non-solid cancers, and solid cancers) on demographics and clinical characteristics. Multivariable logisticregressions were used to model the associations of cancer status with sepsis, acute venous thromboembolism, andmortality. Results: There were 5,516 COVID-19 positive patients included, 96 (1.7%) with non-solid cancers and 325 (5.8%)with solid cancers. Those with solid cancers were significantly older (mean: 70.9 vs. 63.8 and 63.2 years) and morelikely to be non-Hispanic Black (26.5% vs. 23.9% and 22.9%) than noncancer and non-solid cancers patients. Those with cancer had significantly more additional comorbid conditions (42.7% and 49.8% ≥2 comorbidities for non-solidand solid cancers, vs. 30.4% for noncancer). Platelets (mean [noncancer]: 223.8, mean [non-solid cancer]: 182.6, mean [solid cancer]: 218.3 × 10 /μL), white blood cell count (mean [noncancer]: 8.4, mean [non-solid cancer]: 6.7, mean [solid cancer]: 8.0 × 10 /μL), hemoglobin (mean [noncancer]: 13.1, mean [non-solid cancer]: 11.2, mean [solidcancer]: 12.0 g/dL), and red blood cell count (mean [non-cancer]: 4.5, mean [non-solid cancer]: 3.7, mean [solid cancer]: 4.1 × 10 /μL) were significantly lower in cancer patients, and lowest in those with non-solid cancers. Afteradjustment and compared to noncancer patients, those with cancer had significantly higher risk of acute venousthromboembolism (OR : 1.77, 95% CI: 1.01-3.09) and sepsis (OR : 1.34, 95% CI: 1.09-1.64). There was nosignificant difference in mortality (OR : 1.02, 95% CI: 0.81-1.29). There was no significant difference in alloutcomes for solid and non-solid cancer types. Conclusion: COVID-19 patients with cancer, particularly solid tumors, are significantly older, with morecomorbidities than those without cancer. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality for COVID-19patients with cancer, but a significantly higher risk of thromboembolism and sepsis. Further research into the effectthat cancer treatments may have in inflammatory and immune responses to COVID is warranted.