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Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, MMSc
Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, MMSc
Posted: Thursday, January 20, 2022
For elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), dual infection with COVID-19 conferred a worse prognosis, according to a study published in Leukemia. Patients who had never received treatment for CLL had a better chance of survival compared with patients who had received previous treatment, explained Paolo Ghia, MD, of Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele and IRCC Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, and colleagues.
From 2020 to 2021, a total of 941 patients with CLL were recruited for the study. All patients also had a real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive test for COVID-19. Patients were stratified based on COVID-19 diagnosis, such that patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from the beginning of the pandemic until June 30, 2020, were considered part of the first wave, and those diagnosed from July 1, 2020, until the completion of data collection were considered part of the second wave.
The authors reported the case fatality rate for patients with severe COVID-19 as 38.4%. In addition, patients who had received treatment for CLL had decreased overall survival rates compared with patients who had not received treatment (P < .001). Furthermore, patients who had not received treatment had an overall lower risk of death (hazard ratio = 0.54). Patients who were older and suffering from cardiac failure had a higher risk of death from COVID-19 infection (hazard ratio = 1.03). Thus, the study authors concluded that risk factors for decreased overall survival included cardiac failure, age, and CLL treatment status.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit nature.com.
