Impact of COVID-19 on outcomes of a cohort of children and adolescents
with cancer admitted to a cancer center in Northeastern-Brazil
Abstract
Background: Cancer patients were considered to be at high risk for
COVID-19 because they are more likely to develop serious infections.
Children and adolescents with cancer are also more vulnerable to
COVID-19. This study aimed to describe the impact of COVID-19 on
clinical outcomes in a cohort of children and adolescents with cancer in
NE-Brazil. Methods: This is a survey of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort
of cancer patients hospitalized between April 2020 and September 2021 at
the public pediatric oncology service of Sergipe. All children and
adolescents underwent detection of SARS-CoV-2 through RT-PCR. Results:
One hundred fifteen patients were hospitalized but three were
transferred to other services and they were excluded from this study.
The final sample consisted of 112 children. Had at least one COVID-19
positive test 54.46% and 40.18% among these patients died. There was
difference between death and positive test (p=0.03; odds ratio [OR],
2.32, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-5.09), observing higher
mortality rate among patients with coronavirus positive test, having
them or not COVID-19 symptoms. There was also difference between outcome
and patients’ oncological diagnosis (p=0.02; OR, 3.65; 95% CI,
1.16-11.44). Conclusion: COVID-19 infection and fatality rates among
pediatric oncology patients were significantly higher than those found
in previous studies. There was also a higher number of deaths in the
group with a positive test and with solid tumors, with the predominant
cause of death being the progression of the oncological disease.