Receiving certain common treatments, such as chemotherapy, did not worsen outcomes for cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19, a new study shows.
The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, included 423 cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 10 and April 7 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
The study shows that 40 percent of the patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, and 20 percent developed severe respiratory illness. About 9 percent needed mechanical ventilation. Twelve percent died.
Researchers also found that metastatic disease, recent chemotherapy or major surgery within the previous month were not significantly linked to hospitalization or severe respiratory illness due to COVID-19. But use of immunotherapy drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors were associated with severe COVID-19 illness and requiring hospitalization.