Global Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Patients and its Treatment: A Systematic Review

Mohammad Ali; Shahid Ud Din Wani; Mubashir Hussain Masoodi; Nisar Ahmad Khan; H G Shivakumar; Riyaz M Ali Osmani; Khalid Ahmed Khan

doi:10.1016/j.ccmp.2022.100041

Global Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Patients and its Treatment: A Systematic Review

Clin Complement Med Pharmacol. 2022 Dec;2(4):100041. doi: 10.1016/j.ccmp.2022.100041. Epub 2022 Apr 25.

Authors

Mohammad Ali¹, Shahid Ud Din Wani², Mubashir Hussain Masoodi², Nisar Ahmad Khan², H G Shivakumar³, Riyaz M Ali Osmani⁴, Khalid Ahmed Khan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bangalore 560001, India.
² Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Applied Science and Technology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, India.
³ College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Technical Education, Noida 201301, India.
⁴ Department of Pharmaceutics, JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysuru 570015, India.
⁵ Assistant Drugs Controller, Drugs Control Department, Government of Karnataka, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560004, India.

Abstract

Background: At a global level, the COVID-19 disease outbreak has had a major impact on health services and has induced disruption in routine care of health institutions, exposing cancer patients to severe risks. To provide uninterrupted tumor treatment throughout a pandemic lockdown is a major obstacle. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, stance considerable challenges for the management of oncology patients. COVID-19 presents particularly severe respiratory and systemic infection in aging and immunosuppressed individuals, including patients with cancer.

Objective: In the present review, we focused on emergent evidence from cancer sufferers that have been contaminated with COVID-19 and cancer patients who were at higher risk of severe COVID-19, and indicates that anticancer treatment may either rise COVID-19 susceptibility or have a duple therapeutic impact on cancer as well as COVID-19; moreover, how SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts cancer cells. Also, to assess the global effect of the COVID-19 disease outbreak on cancer and its treatment.

Methods: A literature survey was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and VIral Protein domain DataBase (VIP DB) between Dec 1, 2019 and Sep 23, 2021, for studies on anticancer treatments in patients with COVID-19. The characteristics of the patients, treatment types, mortality, and other additional outcomes were extracted and pooled for synthesis.

Results: This disease has a huge effect on sufferers who have cancer(s). Sufferers of COVID-19 have a greater percentage of tumor diagnoses than the rest of the population. Likewise, cancer and highest proportion is lung cancer sufferers are more susceptible to COVID-19 constriction than the rest of the population.

Conclusion: Sufferers who have both COVID-19 and tumor have a considerably elevated death risk than single COVID-19 positive patients overall. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a reduction in the screening of cancer and detection, and also deferral of routine therapies, which may contribute to an increase in cancer mortality there in future.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer; Chemotherapy; SARS-CoV-2; Treatment.

Publication types

Review