Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2023;46(5):201-210.
doi: 10.1159/000529788. Epub 2023 Feb 23.

High In-Hospital Mortality in SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients with Active Cancer Disease during Omicron Phase of the Pandemic: Insights from the CORONA Germany Study

Francis Maren Konermann  1 , Nele Gessler  1   2   3   4 , Peter Wohlmuth  3 , Juergen Behr  5 , Johannes Feldhege  3 , Christian Gloeckner  6 , Melanie A Gunawardene  2 , Klaus R Herrlinger  4   7 , Thomas Hoelting  8 , Ulrich-Frank Pape  4   9 , Niels Reinmuth  5 , Axel Stang  4   10 , Sara Sheikhzadeh  4   11 , Dirk Arnold  4   12 , Claas Wesseler  4   13
Affiliations
Free article
Multicenter Study

High In-Hospital Mortality in SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients with Active Cancer Disease during Omicron Phase of the Pandemic: Insights from the CORONA Germany Study

Francis Maren Konermann et al. Oncol Res Treat. 2023.
Free article

Abstract

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with cancer have a worse outcome including a significant higher mortality, compared to non-cancer patients. However, limited data are available regarding in-hospital mortality during the Omicron phase of the pandemic. Therefore, the aim of the study was the comparison of mortality in patients with history of cancer and patients with active cancer disease during the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the current Omicron variant of concern.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter, observational, epidemiological cohort study at 45 hospitals in Germany. Until July 20, 2022, all adult hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 positive patients were included. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality regarding cancer status (history of cancer and active cancer disease) and SARS-CoV-2 virus type.

Results: From March 11, 2020, to July 20, 2022, a total of 27,490 adult SARS-CoV-2 positive patients were included in the study. 2,578 patients (9.4%) had diagnosis of cancer, of whom 1,065 (41.3%) had history of cancer, whereas 1,513 (58.7%) had active cancer disease. Overall 3,749 out of the total of 27,490 patients (13.6%) died during the hospital stay. Patients with active cancer disease had a significantly higher mortality compared to patients without cancer diagnosis, in both phases of the pandemic (wild-type to Delta: OR 1.940 [1.646-2.285]); Omicron: 2.864 [2.354-3.486]). After adjustment to co-variables, SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with active cancer disease had the highest risk for in-hospital mortality compared to the other groups, in both phases of the pandemic.

Conclusion: The CORONA Germany study indicates that hospitalized patients with active cancer disease are at high risk of death during a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mortality of patients with history of cancer improved to nearly the level of non-cancer patients during Omicron phase.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer; Mortality; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

Supplementary concepts