Mortality in oncologic patients with sars-cov-2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: The infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is responsible for the disease COVID-19, which is associated with more serious outcomes in oncologic patients, as they are more vulnerable to get the viral infection and also to develop severe cases of the disease, as they have an immune system compromised not only by the treatment but also by the tumor itself. Objectives: Analyze the risk factors linked to increased mortality in cancer patients with COVID-19, in addition to evaluating the mortality rate in these patients. Methods: This is a systematic review with meta- analysis made through the SciELO, VHL and Pubmed databases with the descriptors “COVID 19”, “Coronavirus” and “Oncology”, in addition to the Boolean operator “AND”. Initially, 13,288 articles were found, after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 1,452 studies remained. Of these, the titles and abstracts of 146 were read, after which 41 works were selected for full reading, of which 20 met the criteria to be included in the review. Results: In total, 43,366 cases of cancer patients were analyzed, of which 4,567 died. The overall study mortality rate was 32% (I2 = 0%); and the risk factors associated with increased mortality identified in the meta-analysis were Age > 60 years (95% CI: [1,164; 5,112]; P=0.018; I2=0%; p=0.517); male sex (CI95%: [1,092-1,273]; P<0.001; I2=0.0%; p=0.496), presence of Diabetes Mellitus (CI95%: [1,058-1,544]; P=0.011; I2=0%; p=0.397) and active cancer (CI95%: [1,363-2,643]; P<0.001; I2=0%; p=0.93). Conclusion: There are several risk factors associated with increased mortality in cancer patients, including advancing age, presence of comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, active cancer and a higher stage of cancer.