A Meta-analysis for Prevalence of Lung Cancer Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives: Cancer patients were found to be at higher risk of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and experienced more adverse outcomes. The objective of this meta-analysis was to estimate the prevalence of lung cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A comprehensive search was carried out on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, MedRxiv, SciELO, SID, CNKI, and Wanfang databases to retrieve all relevant publications. All cross-sectional studies and consecutive case series on cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection were selected. A total of 28 studies including 5400 infected cancer patients and 767 lung cancer patients with COVID-19 were included. Results: Combined data indicated that the prevalence of lung cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection was 15.2% (95% CI, 0.111-0.205) overall. Stratified analysis by ethnicity showed that the prevalence was 16.4% and 15.4% in Asian and Caucasian lung cancer patients with COVID-19, respectively. Moreover, subgroup analysis by country of origin showed that the prevalence was highest in China (19.3.0%) followed by France (12.6%), the UK (10.7%), and the USA (8.3%). Conclusion: This meta-analysis revealed that the prevalence of lung cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic was 15.2%.