Cancer and Risk of COVID-19 Through a General Community Survey.

Lee KA, Ma W, Sikavi DR, Drew DA, Nguyen LH, Bowyer RCE, Cardoso MJ, Fall T, Freidin MB, Gomez M, Graham M, Guo CG, Joshi AD, Kwon S, Lo CH, Lochlainn MN, Menni C, Murray B, Mehta R, Song M, Sudre CH, Bataille V, Varsavsky T, Visconti A, Franks PW, Wolf J, Steves CJ, Ourselin S, Spector TD, Chan AT, COPE consortium

Oncologist 26 (1) e182-e185 [2021-01-00; online 2020-09-07]

Individuals with cancer may be at high risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and adverse outcomes. However, evidence from large population-based studies examining whether cancer and cancer-related therapy exacerbates the risk of COVID-19 infection is still limited. Data were collected from the COVID Symptom Study smartphone application since March 29 through May 8, 2020. Among 23,266 participants with cancer and 1,784,293 without cancer, we documented 10,404 reports of a positive COVID-19 test. Compared with participants without cancer, those living with cancer had a 60% increased risk of a positive COVID-19 test. Among patients with cancer, current treatment with chemotherapy or immunotherapy was associated with a 2.2-fold increased risk of a positive test. The association between cancer and COVID-19 infection was stronger among participants >65 years and males. Future studies are needed to identify subgroups by tumor types and treatment regimens who are particularly at risk for COVID-19 infection and adverse outcomes.

Category: Health

Type: Journal article

PubMed 32845538

DOI 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0572

Crossref 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0572

pmc: PMC7460944


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