Abstract 510P
Background
During the pandemic, there have been significant developments in the implementation of preventive measures, including follow up of COVID-19 infection and contact, increased testing capacity, and vaccination. On the other hand, the fluctuating course continues due to the COVID-19 variants. Cancer patients are among the groups most affected by the pandemic. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection in cancer patients before vaccination.
Methods
All patients who were followed up with a diagnosis of solid cancer and had SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive nasopharyngeal swab) between May 2020 and December 2020 (pre-vaccine period) were included in the study.
Results
742 solid tumor patients were included in the study. Fifty-one point one percent of the patients were male. The median age was 61 (18-94) years and the median follow-up time from cancer diagnosis was 23 months (1-331). Distribution of the most frequent diagnoses by cancer subtypes; 25.7% were lung cancer, 24.9% gastrointestinal system cancer and 19.4% breast cancer. Fifteen point nine percent of the patients had one comorbidity and 13.9% had at least 2 comorbidities. In the last 3 months before COVID-19 infection, 51.6% of the patients were receiving anticancer treatment. The median follow-up period of the patients from the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection was 16 (1-24) months. During the follow-up, 35.7% of the patients died. On the other hand, 28.3% of the patients died from COVID-19 and its complications. When mortality due to COVID-19 infection was examined, it was seen that patients diagnosed with lung cancer (19.9%) were the most common cancer subgroups (19.9%) (p:0.01). When COVID-19-related mortality was examined, it was found that patients who received targeted therapy were more related with mortality (25.7%) (p:0.01).
Conclusions
Considering the mortality rates, it is clear that patients with solid tumors are more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than the normal population. It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive measures and planning future strategies. The pandemic is likely to have long-term consequences as well as short-term consequences.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
O. Yazici.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.