“Outcomes of COVID-19 infection in patients with hematological malignancies- A multicenter analysis from Pakistan”

PURPOSE: COVID-19 infection resulting from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began to spread across the globe in early 2020. Patients with hematologic malignancies are supposed to have an increased risk of mortality from coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) infection. From Pakistan, we report the analysis of the outcome and interaction between patient demographics and tumor subtype and COVID-19 infection and hematological malignancy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This multicenter, retrospective study included adult patients with a history of histologically proven hematological malignancies who were tested positive for COVID-19 via PCR presented at the oncology department of 5 tertiary care hospitals in Pakistan from February to August 2020. A patient with any known hematological malignancy who was positive for COVID-19 on RT-PCR, was included in the study. Chi-square test and Cox-regression hazard regression model was applied considering p ≤ 0.05 significant. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients with hematological malignancies were diagnosed with COVID-19, out of which 82 (76.64%) were alive, and 25 (23.36%) were dead. The significant hematological malignancy was B-cell Lymphoma in dead 4 (16.00%) and alive group 21 (25.61%), respectively. The majority of the patients in both the dead and alive group were on active treatment for hematological malignancy while they came positive for COVID-19 [21 (84.00%) & 48 (58.54%) p 0.020]. All patients in the dead group were admitted to the hospital 25 (100.00%), and among these, 14 (56.00%) were admitted in ICU with a median 11 (6–16.5) number of days. Among those who had contact exposure, the hazard of survival or death in patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19 positive was 2.18 (CI: 1.90–4.44) times and 3.10 (CI: 2.73–4.60) times in patients with travel history compared to no exposure history (p 0.001). CONCLUSION: Taken together, this data supports the emerging consensus that patients with hematologic malignancies experience significant morbidity and mortality resulting from COVID-19 infection.