ASH 2020 | Severe COVID-19 in patients with hematological malignancies

Samuel Rubinstein, MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, discusses the findings of a study by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19; NCT04354701) investigating the clinical course and complications of COVID-19 in patients with cancer. 757 patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19 were enrolled in the study. The study found that the rate of severe COVID-19 infection was highest in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (53%) and lowest in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (23%). Patients who had received cytotoxic systemic therapy within three months of COVID-19 diagnosis had higher rates of severe COVID-19 infection than those who had received treatment longer ago. There was no significant difference in the rates of severe COVID-19 infection when comparing patients who had received cellular or transplant therapy within a year prior to infection versus those who had not, or when comparing patients receiving first-line therapy versus second-line or later therapy. This interview took place during the 62nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, 2020.