• Khalid Shoumariyeh, Francesca Biavasco, Gabriele Ihorst, Siegbert Rieg, Alexandra Nieters, Winfried V Kern, Cornelius Miething, Justus Duyster, Monika Engelhardt, and Hartmut Bertz.
• Department of Medicine I, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany.
• Cancer Med. 2020 Nov 1; 9 (22): 8412-8422.

BackgroundPatients with cancer are considered a high-risk group for viral pneumonia, with an increased probability of fatal outcome. Here, we investigated the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with solid and hematological cancers and concomitant Covid-19 at a Comprehensive Cancer Center in a Covid-19 hotspot area in Germany.MethodsWe performed a retrospective single center cohort study of 39 patients with hematological and solid cancers who were hospitalized at the University Hospital Freiburg for Covid-19. Using univariate and multivariate Cox regression models we compared time to severe events and overall survival to an age-matched control cohort of 39 patients with confirmed Covid-19 without a cancer diagnosis.ResultsIn the cancer cohort 29 patients had a diagnosis of a solid tumor, and 10 had a hematological malignancy. In total, eight patients (21%) in the cancer and 14 patients (36%) from the noncancer cohort died during the observation period. Presence of a malignancy was not significantly associated with survival or time to occurrence of severe events. Major influences on mortality were high IL-6 levels at Covid-19 diagnosis (HR = 6.95, P = .0121) and age ≥ 65 years (HR = 6.22, P = .0156).ConclusionsCompared to an age-matched noncancer cohort, we did not observe an association between a cancer diagnosis and a more severe disease course or higher fatality rate in patients with Covid-19. Patients with a hematological malignancy showed a trend towards a longer duration until clinical improvement and longer hospitalization time compared to patients with a solid cancer. Cancer per se does not seem to be a confounder for dismal outcome in Covid-19.© 2020 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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