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. 2023 Nov 1;18(11):e0289907.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289907. eCollection 2023.

Clinical and laboratory features of COVID-19 illness and outcomes in immunocompromised individuals during the first pandemic wave in Sydney, Australia

Nila J Dharan  1 , Sarah C Sasson  1   2   3 , Golo Ahlenstiel  4   5 , Christopher R Andersen  6   7 , Mark Bloch  1   8 , Griselda Buckland  1 , Nada Hamad  9   10   11 , Win Min Han  1 , Anthony D Kelleher  1   9 , Georgina V Long  6   12   13 , Gail V Matthews  1   9 , Michael M Mina  14 , Emmanuelle Papot  1 , Kathy Petoumenos  1 , Sanjay Swaminathan  3   4   5 , Barbara Withers  9 , James Yun  11   15 , Mark N Polizzotto  1   9   16 ; CORIA Study Group
Affiliations

Clinical and laboratory features of COVID-19 illness and outcomes in immunocompromised individuals during the first pandemic wave in Sydney, Australia

Nila J Dharan et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

People with immunocompromising conditions are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality, however early in the pandemic it was challenging to collate data on this heterogenous population. We conducted a registry study of immunocompromised individuals with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from March-October 2020 in Sydney, Australia to understand clinical and laboratory outcomes in this population prior to the emergence of the Delta variant. 27 participants were enrolled into the study including people with a haematologic oncologic conditions (n = 12), secondary immunosuppression (N = 8) and those with primary or acquired immunodeficiency (i.e. HIV; N = 7). All participants had symptomatic COVID-19 with the most common features being cough (64%), fever (52%) and headache (40%). Five patients demonstrated delayed SARS-CoV-2 clearance lasting three weeks to three months. The mortality rate in this study was 7% compared to 1.3% in the state of New South Wales Australia during the same period. This study provides data from the first eight months of the pandemic on COVID-19 outcomes in at-risk patient groups.

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Conflict of interest statement

I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: NJD has received research support through the Gilead Australia Fellowship for an unrelated project. GVL is consultant advisor to Agenus, Amgen, Array Biopharma, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Evaxion, Hexal AG (Sandoz Company), Highlight Therapeutics S.L., Innovent Biologics USA, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Novartis, PHMR Ltd, Pierre Fabre, Provectus, Qbiotics, Regeneron, unrelated to this study. GVM has received research funding from Gilead, Abbvie, Janssen and ViiV. ADK is an advisor to Merck and Aegros unrelated to this study. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. We believe there are ethical restrictions on sharing our de-identified data set publicly; therefore, our data are available by request.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Proportion of participants reporting symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection over time, by primary immunocompromising diagnostic category.
Panel A. Fever; Panel B. Cough; Panel C. Headache; Panel D. Shortness of breath. E. Any symptom.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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