Abstract S09-03: Factors affecting COVID-19 outcomes in cancer patients: A first report from Guy’s Cancer Centre in London

Background: Current precautionary management decisions being made for cancer patients are based on assumptions supported by limited evidence, based on small case series from China and Italy and larger series from New York and a recent consortium of 900 patients from over 85 hospitals in the USA, Canada, and Spain. Hence, there is insufficient evidence to support clinical decision-making for cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19 due to the lack of large studies. Methods: We used data from a single large UK Cancer Centre to assess demographic/clinical characteristics of 156 cancer patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis between 29 February-12 May 2020. Logistic/Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify which demographic and/or clinical characteristics were associated with COVID-19 severity/death. Results: 128 (82%) presented with mild/moderate COVID-19 and 28 (18%) with severe disease. Initial diagnosis of cancer >24m before COVID-19 (OR:1.74 (95%CI: 0.71-4.26)), presenting with fever (6.21 (1.76-21.99)), dyspnea (2.60 (1.00-6.76)), gastrointestinal symptoms (7.38 (2.71-20.16)), or higher levels of CRP (9.43 (0.73-121.12)) were linked with greater COVID-19 severity. During median follow-up of 47d, 34 patients had died of COVID-19 (22%). Asian ethnicity (3.73 (1.28-10.91), palliative treatment (5.74 (1.15-28.79), initial diagnosis of cancer >24m before (2.14 (1.04-4.44), dyspnea (4.94 (1.99-12.25), and increased CRP levels (10.35 (1.05-52.21)) were positively associated with COVID-19 death. An inverse association was observed with increased levels of albumin (0.04 (0.01-0.04). Conclusions: Our analysis of one of the largest single-center series of COVID-19-positive cancer patients to date confirms a similar distribution of age, sex, and comorbidities as reported for other populations. With respect to cancer-specific observations, patients who have lived longer with their cancer were found to be more susceptible to a greater infection severity, possibly reflecting the effect of more advanced malignant disease, as almost half of the severe cohort were on third-line metastatic treatment, or the impact of this infection. The latter was also found to be associated with COVID-19 death in cancer patients, as were Asian ethnicity and palliative treatment. Further validation will be provided from other large case series, as well as from those including longer follow-up, to provide more definite guidance for oncologic care. Citation Format: Beth Russell, Charlotte Moss, Sophie Papa, Sheeba Irshad, Paul Ross, James Spicer, Shahram Kordasti, Danielle Crawley, Harriet Wylie, Fidelma Cahill, Anna Haire, Kamarul Zaki, Fareen Rahman, Ailsa Sita-Lumsden, Debra Josephs, Deborah Enting, Mary Lei, Sharmista Ghosh, Claire Harrison, Angela Swampillai, Richard Sullivan, Anne Rigg, Saoirse Dolly, Mieke Van Hemelrijck, Guy9s Cancer Real World Evidence Programme. Factors affecting COVID-19 outcomes in cancer patients: A first report from Guy’s Cancer Centre in London [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer; 2020 Jul 20-22. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(18_Suppl):Abstract nr S09-03.