COVID-19 in Patients with Melanoma: A Single-Institution Study

Abstract

We conducted a single-center, non-interventional retrospective study of melanoma patients with COVID-19 (1 March 2020 until 17 March 2023). The cohort was further divided into three groups according to the periods of SARS-CoV-2 variant dominance in Greece. We recorded demographics, comorbidities, vaccination data, cancer diagnosis/stage, types of systemic melanoma treatments, date of COVID-19 diagnosis and survival. We identified 121 patients. The vast majority (87.6%) had advanced disease (stages III or IV). A total of 80.1% of the patients were receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor-based therapies, 92.5% had asymptomatic/mild COVID-19 and 7.4% had moderate/severe/critical disease, while 83.5% contracted COVID-19 during the third period of the pandemic. Sixteen patients (13.2%) were hospitalized for COVID-19 with a median length of stay of 12 days (range: 1-55 days). Advanced age, heart failure, number of comorbidities (≤1 vs. >1), vaccination status and the time period of the infection correlated with more severe COVID-19, whereas only heart failure and time period were independently correlated with severity. The 30-day mortality rate after COVID-19 was 4.2%. With a median follow-up of 340 days post-COVID-19, 17.4% of patients were deceased. In this cohort of melanoma patients with COVID-19, the 30-day mortality rate was low. There was no association between melanoma stage, treatment receipt and type of treatment with COVID-19 severity.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 severity; COVID-19 vaccination; immunotherapy; melanoma.