Disruption to care of patients with thoracic malignancies: A COVID-19 and cancer outcomes study

Introduction: Patients with thoracic malignancies are susceptible to severe outcomes from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to evaluate the disruption to care of patients with thoracic malignancies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The COVID-19 and Cancer Outcomes Study (CCOS) is a multicenter prospective cohort study comprised of adult patients with a current or past history of hematological malignancy or invasive solid tumor who had an outpatient medical oncology visit on the index week between March 2 and March 6, 2020 at the Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY (MSSM) or the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA (DFCI). An electronic data capture platform was used to collect patient-, cancer-, and treatment-related variables during the three months prior to the index week (the baseline period) and the following three months (the pandemic period). Two-by-three contingency tables with Fisher's exact tests were computed. All tests were two-tailed and considered statistically significant for p<0.05. All analyses were done in the R statistical environment (v3.6.1). Results: The overall cohort included 2365 patients, of which 313 had thoracic malignancies, 1578 had other solid tumors, and 474 had hematological malignancies. At a median follow-up of 84 days (95% confidence interval, 82-84), 13 patients with thoracic malignancies (4.1%) had developed COVID-19 (vs. other solid: 63 [4.0%] and hematological: 52 [11.0%];p<0.001). When comparing data from the pandemic period to the baseline period, patients with thoracic malignancies had a decrease in the number of in-person outpatient visits (thoracic: 209 [66.8%] vs. other solid: 749 [47.5%] vs. hematological: 260 [54.9%];p<0.001) and an increase in the number of telehealth visits (thoracic: 126 [40.3%] vs. other solid: 465 [29.5%] vs. hematological: 168 [35.4%];p<0.001). During the pandemic period, 33 (10.5%) patients with thoracic malignancies experienced treatment delays due to the pandemic (vs. other solid: 127 [8.0%] and hematological: 79 [16.7%];p<0.001), and 26 (8.3%) patients with thoracic malignancies experienced delays in cancer imaging or diagnostic procedures (vs. other solid: 63 [4.0%] and hematological: 26 [5.5%];p=0.003). Discussion: In this prospective cohort study, patients with thoracic malignancies were not at increased risk of developing COVID-19 compared to patients with other cancers, but experienced significant cancer care disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic with a higher likelihood of decreased in-person visits and increased telehealth visits compared to patients with other malignancies. Focused efforts to ensure continuity of care for this vulnerable patient population are warranted.

CIDO: The community-based coronavirus infectious disease ontology

Current COVID-19 pandemic and previous SARS/MERS outbreaks have caused a series of major crises to global public health. We must integrate the large and exponentially growing amount of heterogeneous coronavirus data to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechanisms, in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs. Ontologies have emerged to play an important role in standard knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. We have initiated the development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO). As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is an open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. In this article, the general architecture and the design patterns of the CIDO are introduced, CIDO representation of coronaviruses, phenotypes, anti-coronavirus drugs and medical devices (e.g. ventilators) are illustrated, and an application of CIDO implemented to identify repurposable drug candidates for effective and safe COVID-19 treatment is presented. Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors.

[Preliminary study of the relationship between novel coronavirus pneumonia and liver function damage: a multicenter study].

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia and a preliminary study to explore the relationship between different clinical classification and liver damage. Methods: Consecutively confirmed novel coronavirus infection cases admitted to seven designated hospitals during January 23, 2020 to February 8, 2020 were included. Clinical classification (mild, moderate, severe, and critical) was carried out according to the diagnosis and treatment program of novel coronavirus pneumonia (Trial Fifth Edition) issued by the National Health Commission. The research data were analyzed using SPSS19.0 statistical software. Quantitative data were expressed as median (interquartile range), and qualitative data were expressed as frequency and rate. Results: 32 confirmed cases that met the inclusion criteria were included. 28 cases were of mild or moderate type (87.50%), and four cases (12.50%) of severe or critical type. Four cases (12.5%) were combined with one underlying disease (bronchial asthma, coronary heart disease, malignant tumor, chronic kidney disease), and one case (3.13%) was simultaneously combined with high blood pressure and malignant tumor. The results of laboratory examination showed that the alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), albumin (ALB), and total bilirubin (TBil) for entire cohort were 26.98 (16.88 ~ 46.09) U/L and 24.75 (18.71 ~ 31.79) U/L, 39.00 (36.20 ~ 44.20) g/L and 16.40 (11.34 ~ 21.15) µmol/L, respectively. ALT, AST, ALB and TBil of the mild or moderate subgroups were 22.75 (16.31 ~ 37.25) U/L, 23.63 (18.71 ~ 26.50) U/L, 39.70 (36.50 ~ 46.10) g/L, and 15.95 (11.34 ~ 20.83) µmol/L, respectively. ALT, AST, ALB and TBil of the severe or critical subgroups were 60.25 (40.88 ~ 68.90) U/L, 37.00 (20.88 ~ 64.45) U/L, 35.75 (28.68 ~ 42.00) g/L, and 20.50 (11.28 ~ 25.00) µmol/L, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this multicenter retrospective study suggests that novel coronavirus pneumonia combined with liver damage is more likely to be caused by adverse drug reactions and systemic inflammation in severe patients receiving medical treatment. Therefore, liver function monitoring and evaluation should be strengthened during the treatment of such patients.

[Clinical analysis of 31 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus infection in children from six provinces (autonomous region) of northern China].

Objective: To analyze the epidemiological history, clinical manifestations, treatment and the short-term prognosis of 31 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection in children from six provinces (autonomous region) in northern China. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the epidemiological history, clinical symptoms, signs, laboratory examinations, chest imaging, treatment and the short-term prognosis of 31 cases of 2019-nCoV was conducted. The patients were diagnosed between January 25th, 2020 and February 21st, 2020 in 21 hospitals in 17 cities of six provinces (autonomous region) of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Hebei, Henan and Shandong. Results: The age of the 31 children with 2019-nCoV infection was 7 years and 1 month (6 months-17 years). Nine cases (29%) were imported cases. Other 21 cases (68%) had contact with confirmed infected adults. One case (3%) had contact with asymptomatic returnees from Wuhan. Among the 31 children, 28 patients (90%) were family cluster cases. The clinical types were asymptomatic type in 4 cases (13%), mild type in 13 cases (42%), and common type in 14 cases (45%). No severe or critical type existed. The most common symptom was fever (n=20, 65%), including 1 case of high fever, 9 cases of moderate fever, 10 cases of low fever. Fever lasted from 1 day to 9 days. The fever of fifteen cases lasted for ≤3 d, while in other 5 cases lasted >3 d. Other symptoms included cough (n=14, 45%), fatigue (n=3, 10%) and diarrhea (n=3, 10%). Pharyngalgia, runny nose, dizziness, headache and vomiting were rare. In the early stage, the total leukocytes count in peripheral blood decreased in 2 cases (6%), the lymphocytes count decreased in 2 cases (6%), and the platelet count increased in 2 cases (6%).Elevation of C-reactive protein (10%, 3/30), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (19%, 4/21), procalcitonin (4%,1/28), liver enzyme (22%, 6/27) and muscle enzyme (15%, 4/27) occurred in different proportions. Renal function and blood glucose were normal. There were abnormal chest CT changes in 14 cases, including 9 cases with patchy ground glass opacities and nodules, mostly located in the lower lobe of both lungs near the pleural area. After receiving supportive treatment, the viral nucleic acid turned negative in 25 cases within 7-23 days. Among them, 24 children (77%) recovered and were discharged from hospital. No death occurred. Conclusions: In this case series, 2019-nCoV infection in children from six provinces (autonomous region) in northern China are mainly caused by close family contact. Clinical types are asymptomatic, mild and common types. Clinical manifestations and laboratory examination results are nonspecific. Close contact history of epidemiology, nucleic acid detection and chest imaging are important bases for diagnosis of 2019-nCoV infection. After general treatment, the short-term prognosis is good.