6002 - Infection-Related Mortality in Different Types of Cancers

Background

Although cancer patients are known to be at higher risk of infection and its subsequent complications, the magnitude of infection-related mortality in cancer patients remains unknown. In this study, data from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) were explored in order to identify how far infection was identified as the cause of death in cancer patients in the United States between 2010 and 2016.

Methods

Data were obtained using SEER*Stat version 8.3.5 where (SEER 18 Regs Nov 2018 Submission) was used as the data source. Only cases with malignant behavior, known age, and those in research database were included. Analysis was made for patients who were diagnosed between 2010 and 2016 whose vital status was reported as "dead" at the time of study cut-off. Data about cause of death were exported using case-listing session in SEER*Stat and were analyzed using SPSS version 25.

Results

1,012,769 cases were included in the final data analysis. Infection was identified as the cause of death in 1.89% of cases (n = 19,155). Infection-related mortality was much higher in patients diagnosed with hematological malignancies (3.6%, n = 3,472) compared with non-hematological malignant diseases (1.7%, n = 15683). Deaths related to infection were also higher in males (2.2%, n = 11,827) compared with females (1.6%, n = 7,328).

Conclusions

Although infection is perceived as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients, its current magnitude may be lower than expectations. Infection-related mortality showed higher prevelance in males and in patients with hematological malignancies.

Clinical trial identification

N/A

Editorial acknowledgement

N/A

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.