Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Treatment and Oncologic Outcomes for Cancer Patients in Romania.
In Vivo
; 36(2): 934-941, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1732569
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIM:
This study aimed to assess the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients, known to be immune-compromised due to the disease itself, oncological treatments and adjuvant medicines use such as steroids. Overall survival was determined for patients with COVID-19 infection and stratification according to known comorbidities and complications was performed. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
This prospective study included ninety cancer patients with COVID-19 confirmed by PCR testing performed before each cycle of chemotherapy or every two weeks during radiotherapy between May and December 2020 in two tertiary Cancer Centers. Demographic, cancer-related and SARS-CoV-2 infection data were collected and long-term oncologic outcome was assessed.RESULTS:
Mean age of cancer patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 was 59.7±12.1 years (range=30-83 years). Fifty-two (57.7%) were women. The most frequent cancer localization was breast (n=28, 31.1%) followed by colorectal (n=11, 12.2%) and lung cancer (n=8, 8.8%). Most patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were diagnosed in stage IV of the disease (n=44, 48.9%) followed by stage III (n=19, 21.1%) and stage II disease (18.9%). Regarding comorbidities, the most common was hypertension (n=31) followed by cardiac dysfunction (n=23) and type II diabetes (n=13). Of 27 (30%) patients who needed hospitalization, 4 patients developed severe infection, 17 patients had mild symptoms and 6 patients were minimally symptomatic. After a median follow-up of 22.5 months, 5 patients (5.55%) died due to SARS-COV-2 infection, all stages III and IV. Median estimated overall survival was 14 months in patients who died because of COVID infection compared to 98 months in cancer-related mortality analysis (p<0.0001). Three deaths occurred during chemotherapy, 1 death in the chemoradiotherapy radiotherapy group.CONCLUSION:
SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with an excess mortality in our study population, especially in patients with advanced and metastatic disease and in those receiving immunosuppressive treatment such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
In Vivo
Journal subject:
Neoplasms
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Invivo.12783
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