Cancer patients at higher risk

Cancer patients — especially those with blood or lung malignancies, or tumors that have spread throughout the body — have a higher risk of death or other severe complications from COVID-19 compared with those without cancer, according to a study published Tuesday.

The study, which involved 14 hospitals in Hubei province in central China, where the pandemic emerged, included 105 cancer patients and 536 noncancer patients of the same age — all of whom had COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The co-authors, from China, Singapore and the United States, found that cancer patients who developed COVID-19 had nearly a threefold higher death rate from the virus than the 2 to 3 percent rate estimated for the general population.

The study was released at the American Association for Cancer Research’s virtual annual meeting and published in the organization’s peer-reviewed journal, Cancer Discovery.

The study showed that patients with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma — all diseases in which cancer attacks the immune system — were among those with the highest rates of severe problems. Patients with lung and gastrointestinal cancers also were at higher risk for poor outcomes.

In addition, cancer patients who underwent surgery as part of their treatment were likely to have worse outcomes than those without cancer.

For Deborah Silverman, 29, an MD/PhD candidate at MD Anderson Cancer Center

in Houston, the outbreak has had a direct impact on her treatment. Diagnosed last year with triple negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive breast cancers, she has had chemotherapy, surgery and radiation and now is getting chemotherapy again. Even so, Silverman has some residual disease and a 50 to 60 percent chance of recurrence, she said.

To reduce her risk, she planned to enter a clinical trial for immunotherapy, which unleashes the immune system to attack cancer. But the trial, like many across the country, is not enrolling new patients as a result of the pandemic, so she is extending her chemotherapy regimen.

“This is the only trial available right now for someone in my position,” she said. “We want to have all the shots on goal we can.”