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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Jun 28:508:30-46.
doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2021.02.012. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of cancer patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis of global data

Xiangyi Kong  1 , Yihang Qi  1 , Junjie Huang  2 , Yang Zhao  3 , Yongle Zhan  4 , Xuzhen Qin  5 , Zhihong Qi  5 , Adejare Jay Atanda  6 , Lei Zhang  7 , Jing Wang  8 , Yi Fang  9 , Peng Jia  10 , Asieh Golozar  11 , Lin Zhang  12 , Yu Jiang  13
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of cancer patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis of global data

Xiangyi Kong et al. Cancer Lett. .

Abstract

There are minimal data regarding the prevalence of cancer in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as well as the incidence of severe illness and rate of mortality in COVID-19 patients with cancer. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were systematically searched, from database inception to July 15, 2020, for studies of patients with COVID-19 that included information regarding comorbid cancer. In total, 109 eligible global studies were included in this systematic review. Ninety studies with 94,845 COVID-19 patients, among which 4106 exhibited comorbid cancer, were included in the meta-analysis regarding prevalence of comorbid cancer. Twenty-three studies with 71,969 COVID-19 patients, among which 4351 with comorbid cancer had severe illness or death, were included in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of cancer among COVID-19 patients was 0.07 (95% CI 0.05-0.09). The cancer prevalence in COVID-19 patients was higher in Europe (0.22, 95% CI 0.17-0.28) than in the Asia-Pacific region (0.04, 95% CI 0.03-0.06) or North America (0.05, 95% CI 0.04-0.06). The cancer prevalence in COVID-19 patients aged >60 years was 0.10 (95% CI 0.07-0.14), while the prevalence among patients aged ≤60 years was 0.05 (95% CI 0.03-0.06). The pooled prevalence of severe illness among COVID-19 patients with cancer was 0.34 (95% CI 0.26-0.42) and the pooled mortality rate of COVID-19 patients with cancer was 0.20 (95% CI 0.16-0.25). Pooled incidences of severe illness among COVID-19 patients with cancer from Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America were 0.38 (95% CI 0.24-0.52), 0.39 (95% CI 0.25-0.53), and 0.26 (95% CI 0.20-0.31), respectively; pooled mortality rates from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and North America were 0.17 (95% CI 0.10-0.24), 0.26 (95% CI 0.18-0.35), and 0.19 (95% CI 0.13-0.25), respectively.

Keywords: Cancer; Clinical characteristics; Covid-19; Epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study Eligibility Flowchart. * Because many COVID-19 patients with comorbid cancer-related data were only reported in tables, we searched PubMed using a “COVID-19” search strategy, scanning and extracting studies with “data in tables.”
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Pooled prevalence of cancer in subgroups.
Fig. 3(A)
Fig. 3(A)
Incidence of severe illness among COVID-19 patients with cancer.
Fig. 3(B)
Fig. 3(B)
Incidence of severe illness among COVID-19 patients with cancer stratified by continent.
Fig. 4(A)
Fig. 4(A)
Mortality rate of COVID-19 patients with cancer.
Fig. 4(B)
Fig. 4(B)
Mortality rate of COVID-19 patients with cancer stratified by continent.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Funnel plot with pseudo 95% confidence limits and Begg's test.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Prevalence, severe illness incidence, and mortality rate of COVID-19 patients with cancer, stratified by continent.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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