{"id":822,"date":"2020-06-03T13:37:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T08:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.potentialloops.org\/?p=822"},"modified":"2020-06-03T13:37:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T08:07:58","slug":"impact-of-covid-19-infection-in-blood-cancer-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.potentialloops.org\/?p=822","title":{"rendered":"Impact of COVID-19 infection in blood cancer patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: June 2, 2020 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source 1: Queen Mary University of London <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source 2: www.sciencedaily.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary: Researchers report on one of the first studies to investigate the outcome of COVID-19 infection in patients with blood cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first studies to investigate the \noutcome of COVID-19 infection in patients with blood cancer has been \nconducted by clinical researchers from Queen Mary University of London \nand Barts Health NHS Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with blood cancer are expected to be amongst those at \nincreased risk of COVID-19 infection due to a weakened immune system \nfrom the effects of their cancer and the nature of the cancer treatment \nthey receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immunosuppression in blood cancer patients is also predicted to lead \nto more severe outcomes following infection. However, the present study \nfound that even if patients were actively having intensive treatment for\n blood cancer that weakened their immune system, they usually recovered \nfrom COVID-19 as long as they were otherwise fit and well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, published in the British Journal of Haematology<\/em>, \nlooked at 35 adult patients with blood cancer who had tested positive \nfor COVID-19 and monitored them for a minimum of 14 days. At the end of \nthe observation period, 60 per cent of patients had recovered from \nCOVID-19 infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The observations revealed that age was the most significantly \nassociated factor with COVID-19 infection outcome, with almost all of \nthe patients who died being aged 70 years or older at the time of \nCOVID-19 diagnosis. Patients who died also had significantly more \nco-existing health conditions, such as hypertension, chronic kidney \ndisease or diabetes, than those who recovered from the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead author of the study, Dr John Riches from Queen Mary University \nof London said: “Although this is a small and preliminary study, it is a\n first step in understanding the risk posed by COVID-19 to patients with\n blood cancers. At the current time, all patients with certain blood \ncancers are being advised to ‘shield’ to try to minimise the risk of \ngetting the virus. However, this study suggests that the risk of \nCOVID-19 to younger patients with few or no medical conditions aside \nfrom their blood cancer is less than the risk to older patients with \nlots of other medical conditions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data showed no correlation between blood cancer treatment and \noutcome following COVID-19 infection, and suggest that while patients \nwith blood cancers have poorer outcomes than the general population \nafter COVID-19, the majority still survive. While this is the largest \nstudy to date to examine the clinical outcome of COVID-19 infection in \npatients with blood cancer, the findings will need to be confirmed in \nlarge national and international registry studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Story Source:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials<\/a> provided by Queen Mary University of London<\/strong><\/a>. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Journal Reference<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. James A. Aries, Jeffrey K. Davies, Rebecca L. Auer, Simon L. Hallam,\n Silvia Montoto, Matthew Smith, Belen Sevillano, Vanessa Foggo, Bela \nWrench, Krzysztof Zegocki, Samir Agrawal, Rifca Le Dieu, Edward \nTruelove, Thomas Erblich, Shamzah Araf, Jessica Okosun, Heather \nOakervee, Jamie D. Cavenagh, John G. Gribben, John C. Riches. Clinical Outcome of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Haemato\u2010oncology Patients<\/strong>. British Journal of Haematology<\/em>, 2020; DOI: 10.1111\/bjh.16852<\/a>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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