In a study from Regenstrief Institute, scientists found unvaccinated adult cancer patients with COVID were found to be seven times more likely to die than unvaccinated adult cancer patients without COVID-19.
They studied adult cancer patients, whose cancer was diagnosed in 2019 and 2020, in active treatment or in remission.
The study was performed using data before COVID-19 vaccines were available on ancestral strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The researchers found that—among unvaccinated people with a recent cancer diagnosis—older adults, people with two or more comorbid conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease, or chronic kidney disease, males and rural dwellers possessed a higher risk of death following COVID compared to other cancer patient populations.
The team found people with COVID-19 and lung cancer or digestive cancers had the highest risk of death.
The higher death risk of adults with these cancers who are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus provides a partial explanation for the higher death rate among males because both cancers are more common in men than women.
These findings highlight the increased risk of death for adult cancer patients who test positive for COVID and underscore the importance to cancer patients—including those in remission—of vaccinations, boosters, and regular COVID testing.
These results should encourage individuals diagnosed with cancer not only to take preventive action but also to expeditiously seek out treatments available in the marketplace should they test positive for COVID.
Given these findings, the researchers recommend that people who are diagnosed with cancer, or who were diagnosed in the past three years, remain up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations.
Furthermore, people with a recent cancer diagnosis are encouraged to contact their providers immediately upon infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus to discuss available treatments to prevent hospitalization and death.
If you care about COVID, please read studies about an old drug that can save your life from COVID-19, and this face mask can capture and deactivate COVID-19 virus.
For more information about COVID, please see recent studies about how COVID-19 is linked to diabetes, and results showing scientists find the key to curing COVID-19.
The study was conducted by Brian Dixon et al and published in JMIR Cancer.
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