Black and Hispanic patients with cancer more likely to develop COVID-19, data show
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Black and Hispanic patients with cancer demonstrated a higher risk for COVID-19 infection than their white counterparts, according to results of a study presented during ASCO Quality Care Symposium.
The findings, based on data of nearly a half-million patients with cancer, also showed that those with hematologic cancers appeared more likely to develop the novel coronavirus than those with solid tumors.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly disrupted the U.S. health care system at many levels, including the care that is being received by patients with cancer,” Robert S. Miller MD, FACP, FASCO, medical director of ASCO CancerLinQ and assistant professor of oncology at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, said during a presentation. “It has been shown in other studies that COVID-19 disease and poorer outcomes have been higher among certain populations.”
Miller and colleagues sought to identify risk factors for COVID-19 diagnosis among 477,613 patients with cancer in the CancerLinQ Discovery database, a health technology platform developed by ASCO that collects and aggregates longitudinal electronic health record data from U.S. oncology practices.
Among these patients, 965 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or had a COVID-19 diagnosis code in electronic health record data. This included patients at 23 of 29 CancerLinQ practices that reported SARS-CoV-2 test results during the study period, from January to August.
Results showed Black patients were almost twice as likely to develop COVID-19 as white patients (RR = 1.69). Hispanics, meanwhile, had a more than five times higher likelihood of developing COVID-19 than white patients (RR = 5.25).
Additionally, patients with hematologic malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, were 1.36 times as likely to develop COVID-19 as patients with common solid tumors, including breast, lung and colon cancer. This higher risk “is of particular concern because it’s known that these patients already have a greater risk [for] immunosuppression and a higher risk [for] infection at baseline,” Miller said.
Fifty-two (5.4%) of the patients with cancer and COVID-19 died during the study period, although researchers could not determine their cause of death. Most of these patients were aged 70 years or older, Miller said.
“It’s important to gather data about people with cancer during this pandemic because it helps us to understand the risks to these different populations and potentially develop mitigation strategies,” Miller said. “Finally, all patients with cancer need to take precautions that are known to be effective, such as wearing masks, practicing social distancing and getting flu shots, but this is particularly important for patients who are part of minority populations.”
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Potter D, et al. Abstract 84. Presented at: 2020 ASCO Quality Care Symposium (virtual); Oct. 9-10, 2020.
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