Clinical Characteristics of SARS-COV-2 Omicron Variant in Acute Myeloid
Leukemia and Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients: A Multi-Center
Retrospective Study
Abstract
The purpose is to analyze the clinical features and mortality rates of
Chinese acute leukemia patients affected by COVID-19 infection. We
retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of acute leukemia
patients with COVID-19 infection in Henan Province, China, from December
1, 2022, to January 31, 2023. Our study included 100 cases of acute
leukemia with COVID-19 infection. The median age was 49.5 years old
(58% male and 42% female). Patients with acute myeloid leukemia were
76%, and 24% were acute lymphoblastic leukemia.86% of patients were
asymptomatic; 35% of patients received antibiotic treatment, and 25%
received antiviral treatment. For the first time, we analyzed the
factors affecting the days of nucleic acid cycle threshold (CT) (CT≤36)
in acute leukemia patients infected with COVID-19; the days in severe
cases and dead patients was significantly longer. We found that in
patients with neutropenia who were receiving antibiotic treatment the
days was significantly longer, whereas in patients receiving antiviral
treatment or delayed treatment this number was shorter. All patients
were followed up for three months, and the overall mortality rate was
6%. Although multivariate analysis showed that no death related factor,
univariate analysis showed that neutropenia was the main factor
affecting mortality in patients infected with COVID-19. Early
application of antiviral drug shorten the number of days of COVID-19
nucleic acid CT value≤36 in AL patients infected with COVID-19, which
may further reduce the proportion of patients with severe symptoms or
death.