What is the impact of the coronavirus on the state of health of patients already suffering from cancer and in the treatment phase?
The observational study, carried out by the Léon-Bérard center (CLB) in Lyon between March 1 and May 21, 2020, provided some answers and highlighted an increased and earlier risk of death.
According to the results published in the
British Journal of Cancer
and unveiled on Monday, 27.8% of patients testing positive for Covid-19 died within 28 days of diagnosis, against 16.3% of patients testing negative.
“97% had to be hospitalized for this disease,” add the CLB teams.
"Urgent to maintain cancer treatments"
This ONCOVID-19 study, carried out on 1,162 patients from all over France, also revealed that men were more vulnerable than women and that the immune deficiency, observed in some, had increased the risk of mortality.
"This study therefore highlighted the fact that cancer patients presenting symptoms of Covid-19 disease, whether or not they are positive on the test, must be carefully monitored", comments Professor Jean-Yves Blay, director of the Léon-Bérard center.
"It was urgent to understand the effects of this new virus on cancer patients in order to protect them and in particular to be able to maintain cancer treatments," says Souad Assaad, onco-hematologist, who carried out the analyzes of the study. .
Our file on Covid-19
During the first wave of coronavirus, several operations, sometimes heavy, concerning patients with cancer, had been deprogrammed for lack of sufficient places in the intensive care units, saturated by patients positive for Covid-19.
This had aroused the concern of specialists.
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Coronavirus in Lyon: A clinical study conducted among people with cancer and affected by Covid-19
Covid 19
Coronavirus
Lyon
Cancer