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Prof Jan van Meerbeeck
People with thoracic cancers are at higher risk of death from COVID-19 with one in three dying, according to the latest data from the international TERAVOLT registry.
Presenting an update of COVID-19 outcomes for 1053 patients with a range of lung cancers at ERS 2020, Professor Jan van Meerbeeck, Head of Department of Pulmonology, Antwerp University, said the latest results confirmed preliminary findings about prognostic risk factors but also provided some surprising results.
The all-cause mortality rate was 35.5% for all thoracic cancers and mortality rates appeared to be highest for patients with mesothelioma (45%) and SCLC (41%), he told the meeting.
Overall hospitalisation rates were 78% for COVID-19 patients with thoracic cancers, and 8.3% required ICU admission.
The cohort consisted of a mainly European population, mean age 68 years, of whom 82% had NSCLC and 58% had stage 4 disease. The most common COVID-19-related complications were pneumonitis and pneumonia (39%).