ALL Metrics
-
Views
-
Downloads
Get PDF
Get XML
Cite
Export
Track
Research Article
Revised

Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023

[version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]
PUBLISHED 07 Apr 2025
Author details Author details
OPEN PEER REVIEW
REVIEWER STATUS

This article is included in the TDR gateway.

This article is included in the TDR: Ebola and Emerging Infections in West and Central Africa collection.

Abstract

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused substantial morbidity and mortality on a global scale. A strong correlation has been found between COVID-19 treatment outcomes and noncommunicable diseases such as cancers. However, there is limited information on the outcomes of cancer patients who were hospitalised for COVID-19.

Methods

We conducted an analysis on data collected in a large prospective cohort study set-up by the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC). All patients with laboratory-confirmed or clinically-diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. Cancer was defined as having a current solid organ or haematological malignancy. The following outcomes were assessed; 30-day in-hospital mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, length of hospitalization and receipt of higher-level care.

Results

Of the 560,547 hospitalised individuals who were analysed, 27,243 (4.9%) had cancer. Overall, cancer patients were older and had more comorbidities than non-cancer patients. Patients with cancer had higher 30-day in-hospital mortality than non-cancer patients (29.1.3% vs 18.0%) and longer hospital stays (median of 12 days vs 8 days). However, patients with cancer were admitted less often to intensive care units than non-cancer patients (12.6% vs 17.1%) and received less invasive mechanical ventilation than non-cancer patients (4.5% vs 7.6%). The hazard ratio of dying from cancer, adjusted for age, sex and country income level was 1.18 (95%CI: 1.15-1.2).

Conclusions

This study's findings underscore the heightened vulnerability of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with cancer, revealing a higher mortality rate, longer hospital stays, and an unstructured pattern of care that reflects the complexity of managing severely ill patients during a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

COVID-19, cancer, comorbidities, mortality, hazard ratio, risk factor, ISARIC, SORT IT

Revised Amendments from Version 1

We conducted two sensitivity analysis and the results are presented in Table 4 and Table 5.  The findings of the sensitivity analyses indicate that the quantified hazards ratio for cancer remained unchanged when adjusted for different comorbidities (Tabel 4). In addition, the quantified association between any of the predictors and outcome remained relatively stable with some/minor differences in the estimated hazards ratio, apart from chronic neurological disorder (Table 5). However, it has to be cautioned that such a multivariable model with all the predictors included is subject to large missingness. Two sensitivity tables (4 &5) were added in the manuscript.
A through explanation of the study limitations was  done and we edited the references and added a new reference.

See the authors' detailed response to the review by Tom Fowler

Introduction

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, data were collected to identify risk factors for poor outcomes that could inform a risk-based approach to health policy and patient management. Risk factors including age, sex, and several comorbidities were reported to be associated with an increased risk of death.1,2 The most common comorbidities identified in hospitalised patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic were chronic cardiac or cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, non-asthmatic chronic pulmonary disease, obesity, and chronic kidney disease.1,36 Understanding which individuals are likely to have a poor prognosis could help inform vaccine prioritisation, shielding policies, or allocation of healthcare resources and patient management in future infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics.

Several studies have reported COVID-19 patients with cancer to be at higher risk of adverse outcomes compared with COVID-19 patients without cancer.7,8 In a study from China, COVID-19 patients with cancer had higher observed increased rates of death, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and need for invasive mechanical ventilation.9 A study of COVID-19 patients in the United States of America reported that cancer patients were at higher risk of death and hospitalisation but were not found to have significantly different rates of ICU admission or ventilator use compared to non-cancer patients.10 Data from the United States Centre for Disease Control showed that in 2020 and 2021 respectively, 2.0% and 2.4% of people who died of cancer had COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause of death.11 There is a dearth of evidence on the outcomes of patients with cancer in middle- and low-income countries.

The studies referenced above and other national studies have shown that patients with cancer have worse outcomes than those without cancer when hospitalised due to COVID-19.12,13 However, to our knowledge, no study has been conducted to evaluate the association between cancer and hospital outcomes among hospitalised COVID-19 patients using an international data set. This study, seeking to build on the collection of existing evidence, uses secondary COVID-19 patient data, collected in 54 countries via the Clinical Characterisation Protocol designed by the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).14,15 We investigated the association of cancer as a comorbidity with 30-day in-hospital mortality, ICU admission, length of hospitalization and receipt of higher-level care in COVID-19 patients with and without cancer.

Methods

Study design and setting

This was a prospective cohort study that utilised secondary data from the COVID-19 clinical database hosted by the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO). The database contains individual patient data from more than 800,000 hospitalised patients in more than 1,200 institutions from 54 countries across 6 continents. The data were collected using the ISARIC-WHO case report form as a part of the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.15,16

Study population

We included hospitalised patients of any age with clinically or laboratory-diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients were enrolled between 30th January 2020 and 10th January 2023. Patients with unknown cancer status were excluded. Patients admitted for complications due to COVID-19 were followed from the time of hospital admission to discharge or death.

Study variables

We compared the differences in demographic characteristics, comorbidities, treatment with intensive interventions, length of hospitalisation, death (defined as 30-day in-hospital mortality), and hospital outcomes to characterise hospitalised COVID-19 patients with and without cancer.

Severe disease was defined as treatment with higher-level care, including one or more of the following events: admission to an ICU, treatment with invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), non-invasive ventilation (NIV), high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), inotropes and/or vasopressors. Length of hospital stay was censored at 100 days.

The presence of cancer was self-reported by patients or relatives and recorded as a binary variable classified as malignant neoplasm in the ISARIC-WHO case report form. Cancer was defined as having a current solid organ or haematological malignancy. Malignancies that had been declared ‘cured’ ≥5 years with no evidence of ongoing disease, non-melanoma skin cancer and benign growths or dysplasia were not included in this definition. Those with unknown cancer status were excluded.

Data collection and validation

We used prospectively collected, international observational data on demographics, clinical features and outcomes of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with or without cancer (coded as ‘malignant neoplasm’). Data were collected using the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol and contributed to a central repository at the University of Oxford, England. Participating sites used the ISARIC-WHO case report form to enter data onto a Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap, https://www.project-redcap.org/ version 8.11.11, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN) database or used local databases before uploading to the central data repository.17 Open Data Kit is a suitable open access alternative (https://getodk.org). Centrally collated data were wrangled and mapped to the structure and controlled terminologies of the Study Data Tabulation Model (https://www.cdisc.org/standards/foundational/sdtm, version 1.7, Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium, Austin, TX) using Trifacta® software version 9.7.1 (http://trifacta.com). OpenRefine is a suitable open access alternative (https://openrefine.org/) to using Trifacta®. The data collection, aggregation, curation, and harmonisation process has been previously described.16 Though more than 50% of the data were collected from low- and middle-income countries, most data on patients with cancer were collected from patients in higher income countries, per World Bank classification. Our statistical analysis plan was designed to explore differences between patient outcomes between these two economic regions as a proxy for the quality of the healthcare setting in a country.

Analysis and statistical method

Continuous variables such as age and length of hospital stay were summarised as means with standard deviations or medians with interquartile ranges depending upon the distribution of data. Categorical variables (sex, presence of cancer, hospital exit outcomes, etc) were summarised as frequencies and percentages.

Categorical variables such as death and treatment with intensive interventions between patients with cancer and those without cancer were compared using the chi-square test. Continuous variables such as length of hospital stay were compared between the two groups using the unpaired t-test or Mann Whitney U test depending on the distribution of data. A Kaplan-Meier curve was plotted to show the cumulative incidence of mortality during hospitalization. To assess the independent effect of cancer on mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a survival analysis model was fitted to the data. The model was adjusted for the following confounders: age, sex, and country income-level with no explicit adjustment made for further co-morbidities. Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals were reported as measures of association. In addition, we undertook two further sensitivity analyses using different adjustment sets. Denominators on individual analyses differ due to availability of data on different variables across the dataset. A P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Information on country income level was obtained from the World Bank (https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038543).

All analyses were performed using R version 4.2.2 (IDE PBC, Boston, MA, USA), an open access software. (R: The R Project for Statistical Computing (https://www.r-project.org/).

Ethics considerations

Execution of the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol was approved by the WHO Ethics Review Committee (RPC571 and RPC572, 25 April 2013) and by local or national ethics committees for participating sites. Approvals (dates unknown) include the South Central—Oxford C Research Ethics Committee for England (Ref. 13/SC/0149), the Scotland A Research Ethics Committee (Ref. 20/SS/0028) for Scotland, and the Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa as part of a national surveillance programme (M160667), which collectively represent most of the data. Written patient consent for data to be collected and used in research was obtained or waived according to local norms determined by the responsible Ethics Committee. The data were collected using the ISARIC-WHO case COVID-19 report form, locally-tailored versions of the form, or independently designed forms. Arrangements surrounding the pooling, storage, curation and sharing of these data are covered by the IDDO Governance processes.18

All data were deidentified and ensured of low risk for identification of individuals by a statistical disclosure process prior to sharing. Data were shared under a Data Access Agreement following approval from the IDDO Data Access Committee.19 Execution of this secondary analysis was approved by the Union Ethics Advisory Group of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France (EAG number 18/23, dated 8th September 2023).

Results

Among 841,640 individual records in the dataset, 560,547 (66.6%) met the criteria for analysis. Of those that did not, 73,327 (8.7%) did not have clinical or laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection; a further 3,879 (0.5%) were not admitted to hospitals between January 30th 2020 and January 10th 2023; and 203,887 (24.2%) did not have information on cancer status available.

Demographics and comorbidities

Of the 560,547 individuals analysed, 27,243 (4.9%) had cancer. Furthermore, 219,922 (39.2%) individuals that met the criteria for analysis were hospitalised in high-income countries. There were differences in age, sex, country income level, and other comorbidities in the group of patients with cancer versus those without cancer. Those with cancer were older (84.4% versus 46.3% aged ≥60 years), were more likely to be male (58.1% versus 49.1%) and were more likely to come from a high-income country (90.6% versus 36.6%). Of the 10 comorbidities most common in the whole population, all except obesity were more prevalent in the group of patients with cancer ( Table 1).

Table 1. Demographic characteristics and comorbidities of COVID-19 patients with and without cancer hospitalised between 2020-2023 and enrolled to the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.

Cancer (N=27243) Non-cancer (N=533304)
Age in years
 0-466 (0.2%)9074 (1.7%)
 5-14153 (0.6%)10811 (2.0%)
 15-29217 (0.8%)39848 (7.5%)
 30-44824 (3.0%)90335 (16.9%)
 45-592981 (10.9%)136110 (25.5%)
 60 and above23002 (84.4%)247126 (46.3%)
Gender
 Male15812 (58.1%)261479 (49.1%)
 Female11395 (41.9%)271435 (50.9%)
Countries, by income
 High income24692 (90.6%)195230 (36.6%)
 Upper middle income2497 (9.2%)330196 (61.9%)
 Lower middle income29 (0.1%)5684 (1.1%)
 Low income25 (0.1%)2190 (0.4%)
Hypertension
 Yes12037 (50.8%)185555 (36.6%)
 No11681 (49.2%)321205 (63.4%)
Chronic cardiac disease
 Yes9018 (34.7%)61224 (11.5%)
 No16965 (65.3%)469010 (88.5%)
Smoking
 Yes7674 (52.3%)58420 (31.4%)
 No7005 (47.7%)127878 (68.6%)
Diabetes
 Yes7362 (28.0%)124843 (23.9%)
 No18901 (72.0%)397550 (76.1%)
Chronic pulmonary disease
 Yes5168 (19.9%)42312 (8.0%)
 No20812 (80.1%)488232 (92.0%)
Chronic rheumatological disorder
 Yes3727 (15.8%)23328 (11.1%)
 No19867 (84.2%)186487 (88.9%)
Chronic neurological disorder
 Yes3179 (13.2%)22432 (10.4%)
 No20831 (86.8%)193715 (89.6%)
Dementia
 Yes2954 (12.6%)21656 (10.4%)
 No20569 (87.4%)187540 (89.6%)
Asthma
 Yes2654 (10.3%)46029 (8.7%)
 No23144 (89.7%)484495 (91.3%)
Obesity
 Yes2411 (11.1%)40334 (14.7%)
 No19390 (88.9%)234157 (85.3%)

Mortality, severity, and length of hospitalization

Patients with cancer had higher 30-day in-hospital mortality (29.1% vs 18.0%) and longer duration of hospitalization (median of 12 days (IQR 6.0-22.0) vs 8 days (IQR 4.0-14.0)) compared with those without cancer ( Table 2 and Figures 1 and 2).

Table 2. Mortality, hospital admission and high-level care in COVID-19 patients with and without cancer hospitalised between 2020-2023 and enrolled to the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.

All patients Cancer (N=27243)Non-cancer (N=533304)
30-day in-hospital mortality
 Yes7940 (29.1%)95896 (18.0%)
 No19303 (70.9%)437408 (82.0%)
 Median duration of hospitalization (IQR) in days12.0 (6.00, 22.0)8.00 (4.00, 14.0)
In the subset of patients who had data available on higher-level care Cancer (N=23994)Non-cancer (N=271842)
Receipt of higher-level care
 Yes6929 (28.9%)81111 (29.8%)
 No17065 (71.1%)190731 (70.2%)
Treated with high-flow nasal cannulas
 Yes4201 (17.5%)43680 (16.1%)
 No19793 (82.5%)228162 (83.9%)
Admitted to ICU
 Yes3023 (12.6%)46372 (17.1%)
 No20971 (87.4%)225470 (82.9%)
Treated with non-invasive ventilation
 Yes2781 (11.6%)31871 (11.7%)
 No21213 (88.4%)239971 (88.3%)
Treated with invasive ventilation
 Yes1070 (4.5%)20545 (7.6%)
 No22924 (95.5%)251297 (92.4%)
Treated with inotropes and/or vasopressors
 Yes828 (3.5%)12213 (4.5%)
 No23166 (96.5%)259629 (95.5%)
Treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
 Yes30 (0.1%)1232 (0.5%)
 No23964 (99.9%)270610 (99.5%)
f1038285-c7f7-4945-a5c2-7ae0daedf107_figure1.gif

Figure 1. Boxplot showing length of hospitalisation among COVID-19 patients with and without cancer hospitalised between 2020-2023 and enrolled to the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.

f1038285-c7f7-4945-a5c2-7ae0daedf107_figure2.gif

Figure 2. Kaplan-Meier plot of COVID-19 patients with and without cancer hospitalised between 2020-2023 and enrolled to the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.

However, patients with cancer were reported to have received higher-level care slightly less often than those without cancer (28.9% vs 29.8%) including lower rates of ICU admission (12.6% vs 17.1%) and invasive mechanical ventilation (4.5% vs 7.6%). There were similar levels of treatment with high-flow nasal cannulas (17.5% vs 16.1%), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (0.1% and 0.5%), non-invasive ventilation (11.6% vs 11.7%), and treatment with inotropes or vasopressors (3.5% vs 4.5%) across both groups ( Table 2).

The effect of cancer and other comorbidities on 30-day in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients is reported in Table 3. Hospitalised COVID-19 patients with cancer had a higher risk of 30-day in-hospital mortality compared to those without cancer. The hazard ratio of dying from cancer, adjusted for age, sex and country income level was 1.18 (1.15-1.2).

Table 3. Factors influencing 30-day in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients hospitalised between 2020-2023 and enrolled to the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.

Total (N=560547)Deaths (N=103836)Unadjusted hazard ratio (95% CI)Adjusted hazard ratio* (95% CI)
Age
 60 years and above270128765142.01 (1.98-2.04)2.43 (2.39-2.46)
 0-59 years29024727309refref
Diabetes mellitus
 Yes132205342931.4 (1.38-1.42)1.32 (1.31-1.34)
 No41645167133refref
Chronic pulmonary disease
 Yes47480135711.31 (1.28-1.33)1.30 (1.28-1.33)
 No50904489157refref
Gender
 Male277291567271.11 (1.1-1.12)1.19 (1.18-1.21)
 Female28283047020refref
Cancer
 Yes2724379401.16 (1.13-1.18)1.18 (1.15-1.2)
 No53330495896refref
Chronic cardiac disease
 Yes70242206921.2 (1.19-1.22)1.15 (1.13-1.17)
 No48597581965refref
Obesity
 Yes4274583270.97 (0.95-0.99)1.15 (1.13-1.18)
 No25354748963refref
Hypertension
 Yes197592484491.37 (1.35-1.38)1.13 (1.12-1.15)
 No33288647568refref
Dementia
 Yes2461082121.51 (1.48-1.55)1.08 (1.05-1.1)
 No20810935207refref
Smoking
 Yes66094143281.04 (1.02-1.06)1.06 (1.04-1.08)
 No13488322727refref
Asthma
 Yes4868387900.93 (0.91-0.95)1.04 (1.02-1.07)
 No50763993839refref
Chronic neurological disorder
 Yes2561163841.13 (1.1-1.16)1.02 (0.99-1.04)
 No21454638379refref
Chronic rheumatological disorder
 Yes2705563981.13 (1.1-1.16)0.96 (0.94-0.99)
 No20635437244refref

* Adjustment made for age, sex and country income level.

Adjusted hazard ratios were higher for age and gender compared with those for cancer. Adjusted for sex and country income level, individuals aged ≥ 60 years had the highest hazard ratio 2.43 (2.39-2.46). Adjusted for age and country income level, male sex had a hazard ratio of 1.19 (1.18-1.21).

Among all comorbidities, only diabetes mellitus (HR: 1.32, 95%CI: 1.31-1.34) and chronic pulmonary disease (HR: 1.30, 95%CI: 1.28-1.33) were more strongly associated with an increased risk of death compared with cancer, after adjusting for age, sex and country income level. Two sensitivity analyses were conducted and the results are presented in Table 4 and Table 5. The findings of the sensitivity analyses indicate that the quantified hazards ratio for cancer remained unchanged when adjusted for different comorbidities (Tabel 4). In addition, the quantified association between any of the predictors and outcome remained relatively stable with some/minor differences in the estimated hazards ratio, apart from chronic neurological disorder ( Table 5). However, it has to be cautioned that such a multivariable model with all the predictors included is subject to large missingness.

Table 4. Hazards ratio of mortality among those with cancer, adjusted for comorbidities.

Hazards ratio [95% confidence interval]
Results presented in Table 3
Not adjusted for any variables (from Table 3)1.16 (1.13-1.18)
Adjusted for age, sex, and income levels (from Table 3)1.18 (1.15-1.20)
Sensitivity analysis by adjusted for following comorbidities in addition to age, sex, and income levels: hypertension, diabetes, COPD, obesity, chronic cardiac diseases, dementia, asthma, neurological disorder, rheumatological disorder1.18 (1.14-1.21)

Table 5. Multivariable model with all the predictors listed in Table 3 included in the analysis (n=102,184 patients, 16,105 events, and 458,363 missing observations excluded from the multivariable analysis).

Unadjusted hazards ratio (95% confidence interval) (from Table 3) Adjusted hazards ratio (95% confidence interval)
Cancer (reference: no)1.16 (1.13-1.18)1.20 (1.16-1.26)
60 years and above (reference: 0-59y)2.01 (1.98-2.04)2.63 (2.50-2.77)
Diabetes mellitus (reference: no)1.4 (1.38-1.42)1.20 (1.17-1.24)
Chronic pulmonary disease (reference: no)1.31 (1.28-1.33)1.33 (1.28-1.38)
Male (reference: female)1.11 (1.1-1.12)1.24 (1.20-1.28)
Chronic cardiac disease (reference: no)1.2 (1.19-1.22)1.26 (1.21-1.30)
Obesity (reference: no)0.97 (0.95-0.99)1.10 (1.06-1.15)
Hypertension (reference: no)1.37 (1.35-1.38)1.10 (1.01-1.14)
Dementia (reference: no)1.51 (1.48-1.55)1.16 (1.10-1.22)
Smoking (reference: no)1.04 (1.02-1.06)1.04 (1.00-1.08)
Asthma (reference: no)0.93 (0.91-0.95)1.03 (0.98-1.08)
Chronic neurological disorder (reference: no)1.13 (1.1-1.16)0.95 (0.91-0.99)
Chronic rheumatological disorder (reference: no)1.13 (1.1-1.16)0.96 (0.93-1.00)

Discussion

Our study findings underscore the heightened vulnerability of cancer patients hospitalized with COVID-19, revealing a higher mortality rate, longer hospital stays, and a nuanced pattern of care that reflects the complexity of managing severely ill patients during a public health crisis. These outcomes align with the existing literature on the association of cancer with COVID-19 prognosis and treatment approaches during the pandemic.13,20 In keeping with our findings, other studies conducted in high-income countries have also documented that the proportion of COVID-19 patients with cancer and other comorbidities is higher in the elderly (>60 years) as compared to the general population.13,21,22

A meta-analysis of 4 studies (4691 non-cancer patients, 154 cancer patients) that looked at mortality in cancer patients versus non-cancer patients reported a pooled odds ratio of death of 3.91 (95%CI: 2.70-5.67).12 This is higher than reported in our study. This could be explained by the lack of adjustment for potential confounders in the meta-analysis. It is also unclear whether or not the patients in these studies were primarily admitted for COVID-19, for cancer, or for other reasons. When considering other significant risk factors for mortality, we observed that cancer ranked prominently. Cancer demonstrated a stronger association with mortality compared to all other comorbidities, except for diabetes mellitus and chronic pulmonary disease.

Despite the higher mortality risk, cancer patients in our study were slightly less likely to receive higher-level care compared to patients without cancer (28.9% vs 29.8%). Specifically, cancer patients were less frequently admitted to the ICU (12.6% vs. 17.1%) and had invasive mechanical ventilation less often (4.5% vs. 7.6%). These findings diverge from the expectation that higher-risk patients would necessitate more aggressive treatment. Though these event rates align with other studies of cancer patients, few comparators with non-cancer patients hospitalised for COVID-19 are in the literature. Marta et al. (2020) reported ICU admission rates of 39.1% in cancer patients with COVID-19 and use of invasive mechanical ventilation in 84.4%.23 Elgohary et al.’s (2021) systematic review and meta-analysis of cancer patients with COVID -19 reported an ICU admission rate of 14.5% (95% CI: 8.5-20.4) and a mechanical ventilation rate of 11.7% (95% CI: 5.5-18).12 When comparing cancer patients with non-cancer patients, Abuhelwa et al. (2022) found cancer patients hospitalized for COVID-19 had similar rates of invasive mechanical ventilation compared to those without cancer (10.14% vs 9.36.%).13

We found differences in mean hospital stay between patients with cancer and those without cancer. The longer hospital stay might be related to cancer patients having several other comorbidities and/or the cancer-related management. However, we cannot explain why they stayed longer in hospital but received less high-level care compared to COVID-19 patients without cancer. Abuhelwa’s 2022 nation-wide study reported no difference in hospital stays between these patient groups (8.07 vs 7.46 days). The difference between these findings and ours may reflect differences in admission policy or availability of hospital beds. The lower mortality rates in Abuhelwa’s study as compared to our findings may indicate less severe disease, and therefore a population requiring less in-hospital care.

Strengths and limitations

One key strength of our study was the use of a large sample size, orders of magnitude larger than most previous studies. Therefore, our estimates should be more generalisable and should have a higher power to demonstrate significant associations than previously published studies. We adhered to the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines for reporting study findings.

This analysis has several limitations. Though recruitment of patients included in the database used for this analysis targeted those admitted for complications due to COVID-19, the reason for other admissions is not recorded in the database and therefore we cannot verify other reasons for admission but analysed the hospital outcomes of patient with cancer and COVID -19. Any inclusion of patients admitted for other reasons may have had an impact on the subsequent treatment pathway. This study encompassed all patients with current cancer, but we couldn't distinguish between various cancer types as detailed information on each patients’ cancer diagnosis, staging and treatment modalities were not available. However, other studies have highlighted lung cancer and haematological cancers as being those most closely linked to mortality in COVID-19 patients.13,24,25

Differences in reporting of the type and details of cancer diagnosis across the available literature make it challenging to make comparisons. Studies that analysed data through the use of electronic health records may have included patients in remission.

Our study includes patients from January 30, 2020, to January 10, 2023. During this period, COVID-19 underwent significant changes in genomics, treatment, and epidemiology, with vaccines introduced at varying times across countries. However, our dataset lacks genotyping and reliable vaccination information, which are crucial for analysing temporal changes accurately. Without data on these key factors, especially vaccination status, we cannot provide a robust analysis of changes over time. The impact of evolving vaccination rates on outcomes is likely substantial but impossible to calculate with our current data.

We acknowledge this limitation, and it has informed changes to ISARIC's case report forms for future outbreaks to address these data gaps. The majority of data on patients with cancer (90.6%) were collected from patients in high income countries. So, no inferences could be drawn from patient outcomes linked with World Bank income classifications.

Conclusions

Our study found that patients with cancer were older with more comorbidities. They had an increased risk of mortality with longer duration of hospital stay as compared to non-cancer patients but received less high-level care including ICU admission and invasive mechanical ventilation. This highlights the importance of collecting accurate data in emerging infections to identify at-risk groups, facilitating appropriate resource allocation and patient management and informing policy decisions aimed at resource allocation during health emergencies. The availability and collection of data on our platforms were predominantly from high-income countries. To prepare for a future pandemic, data availability and coverage must be more universal. More must also be done to support data collection and the capacity to analyse those data within low- and middle-income countries for appropriate evidence generation and proper patient care.

Author contributions

Conceptualization and methodology, ATJ, LM, DN, SH, YST, RFT; formal analysis and visualisation, DN, SH; supervision, project administration and funding acquisition, RFT, LM; writing—original draft preparation, ATJ, LM, SH, RFT; writing—review and editing, ATJ, LM, DN, SH, IFK, IN, SMT, YST, MK, SL, DSG, RJS, RK, RFT. All authors have read and agreed to the last version of the manuscript.

Open access statement

In accordance with WHO’s open-access publication policy for all work funded by WHO or authored/co-authored by WHO staff members, WHO retains the copyright of this publication through a Creative Commons Attribution IGO license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/legalcode) which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.

Comments on this article Comments (0)

Version 2
VERSION 2 PUBLISHED 21 Jun 2024
Comment
Author details Author details
Competing interests
Grant information
Copyright
Download
 
Export To
metrics
Views Downloads
F1000Research - -
PubMed Central
Data from PMC are received and updated monthly.
- -
Citations
CITE
how to cite this article
Jalloh AT, Merson L, Nair D et al. Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2025, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.150761.2)
NOTE: If applicable, it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
track
receive updates on this article
Track an article to receive email alerts on any updates to this article.

Open Peer Review

Current Reviewer Status: ?
Key to Reviewer Statuses VIEW
ApprovedThe paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approvedFundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions
Version 2
VERSION 2
PUBLISHED 07 Apr 2025
Revised
Views
8
Cite
Reviewer Report 03 Jul 2025
Rajath Rao, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India 
Approved with Reservations
VIEWS 8
This is a timely and important study investigating the association between cancer and COVID-19 outcomes in hospitalized patients. The use of a large, multinational dataset from ISARIC is a significant strength, allowing for robust analysis of this vulnerable patient ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Rao R. Reviewer Report For: Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2025, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.179757.r387889)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
Views
5
Cite
Reviewer Report 28 May 2025
Lynne Lohfeld, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK 
Approved
VIEWS 5
You are to be commended for your work with colleagues in Rwanda during the Marburg outbreak, showing your commitment to both essential clinical work and research. I believe it is vital that we promote indexing in scientific journals by authors ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Lohfeld L. Reviewer Report For: Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2025, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.179757.r377222)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
Views
10
Cite
Reviewer Report 27 May 2025
Chih-Yuan Hsu, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA 
Approved with Reservations
VIEWS 10
This study compared the outcomes of patients with and without cancers who were hospitalized for COVID-19 using a larger dataset than most previous studies. It found that patients with cancer had higher 30-day in-hospital mortality, longer hospital stays, were ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Hsu CY. Reviewer Report For: Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2025, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.179757.r379604)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
Version 1
VERSION 1
PUBLISHED 21 Jun 2024
Views
25
Cite
Reviewer Report 04 Sep 2024
Tom Fowler, UK Health Security Agency, William Harvey Research Institute and the Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK 
Not Approved
VIEWS 25
This paper examining an important area of whether outcomes in hospitalized Covid 19 cancer patients compared to other hospitalized patients for Covid 19 have worse outcomes. It uses data from  International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) and a ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Fowler T. Reviewer Report For: Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2025, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.165357.r295443)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
  • Author Response 09 Jul 2025
    Abdulai Tejan Jalloh, Ministry of Health, Government of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    09 Jul 2025
    Author Response
    Jalloh AT, Merson L, Nair D et al. Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 1; peer review: 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2024, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.150761.1)

    REBUTTAL
    ... Continue reading
COMMENTS ON THIS REPORT
  • Author Response 09 Jul 2025
    Abdulai Tejan Jalloh, Ministry of Health, Government of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    09 Jul 2025
    Author Response
    Jalloh AT, Merson L, Nair D et al. Association of cancer and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 [version 1; peer review: 1 not approved]. F1000Research 2024, 13:673 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.150761.1)

    REBUTTAL
    ... Continue reading

Comments on this article Comments (0)

Version 2
VERSION 2 PUBLISHED 21 Jun 2024
Comment
Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:
Approved - the paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations - A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approved - fundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions
Sign In
If you've forgotten your password, please enter your email address below and we'll send you instructions on how to reset your password.

The email address should be the one you originally registered with F1000.

Email address not valid, please try again

You registered with F1000 via Google, so we cannot reset your password.

To sign in, please click here.

If you still need help with your Google account password, please click here.

You registered with F1000 via Facebook, so we cannot reset your password.

To sign in, please click here.

If you still need help with your Facebook account password, please click here.

Code not correct, please try again
Email us for further assistance.
Server error, please try again.