COVID-19 Infection in Patients With Cancer in China
It has been thought that patients who already have cancer and who are exposed to the COVID19 virus would be more likely to be infected and have worse outcomes.
This early study from China supports both these suggestions. It seems that it is approximately four times more likely for a patient with cancer to be infected than for the normal healthy population.
In addition patients with cancer who have been infected with the COVID19 virus are five times more likely to have a poor outcome requiring ventilation or resulting in death. For those patients who have had recent surgery or chemotherapy the risk of a poor outcome was even greater.
It is suggested that surgery or chemotherapy should be delayed when there is a high risk of infection, that patients with cancer should where possible be isolated from contact with the virus, and that patients with cancer and COVID19 infection need more intensive therapy.
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