Clinical portrait of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in European cancer patients

30 Sep 2020
Announcement

By David Pinato et al. published in Cancer Discovery.

A large Imperial-led study has revealed valuable insights into the impact and risk factors for cancer patients with COVID-19. The findings, from almost 900 cancer patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany, highlight a number of key clinical insights, including:

  • The average mortality rate among cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 was 33.6%
  • Patients who were male, older aged and had pre-existing conditions were more likely to have worse outcomes from COVID-19
  • Continued chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatment had little impact on the severity of COVID-19, or survival rates
  • The use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine appeared to have a beneficial effect in patients
  • The UK had the highest mortality rates for cancer patients with COVID-19, as well as the highest incidence of hospital-based transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

More details are at: https://imperialbrc.nihr.ac.uk/2020/08/06/covid-19-and-cancer-insights-revealed-in-new-european-study/