One Piece of the Jigsaw for the Cancer Recovery Strategy: Prevalence of COVID-19 in Patients With Cancer.
Charlotte MossSaoirse DollyBeth RussellMary LeiSharmista GhoshSophie PapaRichard SullivanMieke Van HemelrijckAnne Riggnull nullPublished in: Cancer control : journal of the Moffitt Cancer Center (2020)
COVID-19 has forced governments to make drastic changes to healthcare systems. To start making informed decisions about cancer care, we need to understand the scale of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, we introduced swab testing for patients visiting Guy's Cancer Centre. Our Centre is one of the largest UK Cancer Centers at the epicenter of the UK COVID-19 epidemic. The first COVID-19 positive cancer patient was reported on 29 February 2020. We analyzed data from 7-15 May 2020 for COVID-19 tests in our cancer patients. 2,647 patients attended for outpatient, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy appointments. 654 were swabbed for COVID-19 (25%). Of those tested, 9 were positive for COVID-19 (1.38%) of which 7 were asymptomatic. Cancer service providers will need to understand their local cancer population prevalence. The absolute priority is that cancer patients have the confidence to attend hospitals and be reassured that they will be treated in a COVID-19 managed environment.
Keyphrases
- coronavirus disease
- sars cov
- papillary thyroid
- healthcare
- squamous cell
- end stage renal disease
- ejection fraction
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- lymph node metastasis
- risk factors
- mental health
- squamous cell carcinoma
- machine learning
- cross sectional
- prognostic factors
- big data
- patient reported outcomes
- health insurance
- case report
- data analysis