SARS CoV 2 infection in prostate cancer patients: Data from a high incidence area in Italy

Background: Novel SARS-CoV-2 infection has been a severe health problem in Italy since the beginning of March 2020, with around 227,000 confirmed cases on May 18th, 2020 The north-western part of Tuscany has been one of the areas with the highest incidence (342/100,000 inhabitants) and the highest lethality rate (31,2/100,000 inhabitants) The lethality rate was higher in men than women (12 6% vs 7 4%) People aged 70-79 represented half of this population and the deaths in this subgroup represented 15 9% of all SARS-CoV-2-related deaths Cancer patients are known to be at higher risk of incidence and complications from SARS-CoV-2 We aimed at analyzing the incidence and the lethality of Sars-CoV-2 in our prostate cancer (PC) patients (pts), in whom hormonal therapy seems to be protective from the first evidences published in the literature Methods: We reviewed all the clinical files of PC pts’visits performed from March 1st to April 30th, 2020 in the University Hospital of Pisa We analyzed the demographic characteristics, the comorbidities, the type of hormonal therapy pts received, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and the related lethality rate Results: 132 pts with PC had face-to-face or telemedicine visits in the considered period The median age was 76 (range 52-91);86 (65 15%) pts were 75 or older The median number of comorbidites was 2 (range 0-6);112 (84 85%) pts had at least two comorbidities 115 (87 12%) pts received LHRH analogue in the adjuvant or metastatic setting, 17 (12 88%) pts received LHRH analogue in combination with an anti-androgen One pt had a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (0 76%), other 2 pts (1 52%) had a clinical and/or radiological suspicion of SARS-CoV2 infection, but no PCR confirmation One of these three pts (0 76%) died of ARDS (the considered pt had no PCR confirmation of SARS-CoV-2);the patient was 89 years old and had three comorbidities Conclusions: In our population, living in a high-incidence area for SARS-CoV2 infection, though being composed by elderly men with a discrete number of comorbidities, the incidence rate was quite low, as well as the lethality rate, corroborating the data published in the literature Legal entity responsible for the study: The authors Funding: Has not received any funding Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest