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. 2022 Mar 10:12:858276.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.858276. eCollection 2022.

Outcomes of Patients With Active Cancer and COVID-19 in the Intensive-Care Unit: A Multicenter Ambispective Study

Henri Plais  1 , Marie Labruyère  2 , Thibault Creutin  3 , Paula Nay  4 , Gaëtan Plantefeve  5 , Romain Tapponnier  6 , Maud Jonas  7 , Nadege Tchikangoua Ngapmen  8 , Loïc Le Guennec  9 , Charles De Roquetaillade  10 , Laurent Argaud  11 , Matthieu Jamme  12 , Cyril Goulenok  13 , Karim Merouani  14 , Maxime Leclerc  15 , Bertrand Sauneuf  16 , Sami Shidasp  17 , Annabelle Stoclin  8 , Aurélie Bardet  18 , Olivier Mir  19 , Nusaibah Ibrahimi  18 , Jean-François Llitjos  1
Affiliations

Outcomes of Patients With Active Cancer and COVID-19 in the Intensive-Care Unit: A Multicenter Ambispective Study

Henri Plais et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Several studies report an increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in cancer patients. However, data in the intensive care unit (ICU) are scarce.

Research question: We aimed to investigate the association between active cancer and mortality among patients requiring organ support in the ICU.

Study design and methods: In this ambispective study encompassing 17 hospitals in France, we included all adult active cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection requiring organ support and admitted in ICU. For each cancer patient, we included 3 non cancer patients as controls. Patients were matched at the same ratio using the inverse probability weighting approach based on a propensity score assessing the probability of cancer at admission. Mortality at day 60 after ICU admission was compared between cancer patients and non-cancer patients using primary logistic regression analysis and secondary multivariable analyses.

Results: Between March 12, 2020 and March 8, 2021, 2608 patients were admitted with SARS-CoV-2 infection in our study, accounting for 2.8% of the total population of patients with SARS-CoV-2 admitted in all French ICUs within the same period. Among them, 105 (n=4%) presented with cancer (51 patients had hematological malignancy and 54 patients had solid tumors). 409 of 420 patients were included in the propensity score matching process, of whom 307 patients in the non-cancer group and 102 patients in the cancer group. 145 patients (35%) died in the ICU at day 60, 59 (56%) with cancer and 86 (27%) without cancer. In the primary logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio for death associated to cancer was 2.3 (95%CI 1.24 - 4.28, p=0.0082) higher for cancer patients than for a non-cancer patient at ICU admission. Exploratory multivariable analyses showed that solid tumor (OR: 2.344 (0.87-6.31), p=0.062) and hematological malignancies (OR: 4.144 (1.24-13.83), p=0.062) were independently associated with mortality.

Interpretation: Patients with cancer and requiring ICU admission for SARS-CoV-2 infection had an increased mortality, hematological malignancy harboring the higher risk in comparison to solid tumors.

Keywords: COVID-19; cancer; hematological malignancies; intensive care unit; solid tumors.

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Conflict of interest statement

AB declare consulting fees for ROCHE SAS. J-FL is employed by bioMérieux but was employed by Institut Gustave Roussy when that study was performed. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

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Graphical Abstract
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