COVID-19 and Cancer Patients

The SARS-CoV-2, (COVID-19) virus of the coronavirus family is believed to have been transmitted from animal to human. On 12th March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared this particular coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. How COVID-19 affects people is still not widely understood. Some people who have tested positive for the virus have been asymptomatic while others, who were otherwise well and healthy before infection, have died. Currently, information obtained so far suggests that most COVID-19 illness, however older people and people with severe comorbidities such as heart and lung disease and diabetes, seem to be at higher risk of developing serious COVID-19 illness. This research is a retrospective, non-interventional study whose aim is to describe the features of COVID-19 infection specifically in cancer patients; to investigate its severity in this particular population and evaluate the long-term outcomes by means of medical charts review of consecutive patients co-diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection and malignancy. Patients will be identified from electronic medical records and entered into a pre-designed database. All information used will have been previously collected as part of routine standard of care and will involve but is not limited to: blood test results, prior and current anti-cancer therapy, medical history and most importantly clinical outcomes, such as response to any treatment provided for COVID-19 and patients' survival in relation to baseline clinic-pathologic profile. All data will be collected by each patient's team and will be anonymised and stored in a password-protected NHS computer.