Background: COVID-19 may be more frequent and more severe in cancer patients than in other individuals. Our aims were to assess the rate of COVID-19 in hospitalized cancer patients, to describe their demographic characteristics, clinical features and care trajectories, and to assess the mortality rate.
Methods: This multicenter cohort study was based on the Electronic Health Records of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). Cancer patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 between 3 March and 19 May 2020 were included. Main outcome was all-cause mortality within 30 days of COVID-19 diagnosis.
Results: A total of 29,141 cancer patients were identified and 7791 (27%) were tested for SARS-CoV-2. Of these, 1359 (17%) were COVID-19-positive and 1148 (84%) were hospitalized; 217 (19%) were admitted to an intensive care unit. The mortality rate was 33% (383 deaths). In multivariate analysis, mortality-related factors were male sex (aHR = 1.39 [95% CI: 1.07-1.81]), advanced age (78-86 y: aHR = 2.83 [95% CI: 1.78-4.51] vs. <66 y; 86-103 y: aHR = 2.61 [95% CI: 1.56-4.35] vs. <66 y), more than two comorbidities (aHR = 2.32 [95% CI: 1.41-3.83]) and C-reactive protein >20 ng/mL (aHR = 2.20 [95% CI: 1.70-2.86]). Primary brains tumors (aHR = 2.19 [95% CI: 1.08-4.44]) and lung cancer (aHR = 1.66 [95% CI: 1.02-2.70]) were associated with higher mortality. Risk of dying was lower among patients with metabolic comorbidities (aHR = 0.65 [95% CI: 0.50-0.84]).
Conclusions: In a hospital-based setting, cancer patients with COVID-19 had a high mortality rate. This mortality was mainly driven by age, sex, number of comorbidities and presence of inflammation. This is the first cohort of cancer patients in which metabolic comorbidities were associated with a better outcome.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 infection; cancer; hospitals; mortality rate; multicenter study.