ASCO20: High Risk for Hospitalization for Patients With Thoracic Malignancies and COVID-19 Infection
Posted: Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Research from the global TERAVOLT Consortium, presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract LBA111), reported that patients with thoracic malignancies are at high risk for hospitalization and mortality. An increased risk for mortality was also linked to the prior use of chemotherapy, steroids, or anticoagulations, stated Leora Horn, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, and colleagues. This global consortium collected data on patients with thoracic cancers diagnosed with COVID-19 to better understand its impact on this population.
The research team gathered data across 9 countries from 295 patients with thoracic malignancies who had also been diagnosed with COVID-19. The team used these data to search for risk factors associated with the coronavirus and thoracic malignancies.
The group reported that 73% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 required hospitalization. Patient characteristics included a median age of 68, with 31% being female, and 79% being current or former smokers. Hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the most common comorbidities. Patients treated with chemotherapy had a 64% increased risk of dying of the virus compared with patients who did not receive chemotherapy. Furthermore, 79.4% of deaths in the study were due to COVID-19, whereas just 10.6% of deaths were associated with cancer. Immuno-oncology treatments, whether or not they were used with chemotherapy, did not seem to alter the risk of hospitalization. However, the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors did appear to decrease the risk of hospitalization.
“These findings give us some insights into outcomes for patients with cancer who develop COVID-19,” commented ASCO President Howard A. Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, in an ASCO press release.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit coi.asco.org.
