COVID-19 severity and mortality in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a joint study by ERIC, the European Research Initiative on CLL, and CLL Campus
Author
Scarfo, L; Chatzikonstantinou, T; Rigolin, GM; Quaresmini, G; Motta, M; Vitale, C; Garcia-Marco, JA; Hernandez-Rivas, JA; Miras, F; Baile, M; ...Date
2020-09-01Source Title
LeukemiaPublisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUPUniversity of Melbourne Author/s
Tam, ConstantineAffiliation
Medicine and RadiologyMetadata
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Scarfo, L., Chatzikonstantinou, T., Rigolin, G. M., Quaresmini, G., Motta, M., Vitale, C., Garcia-Marco, J. A., Hernandez-Rivas, J. A., Miras, F., Baile, M., Marquet, J., Niemann, C. U., Reda, G., Munir, T., Gimeno, E., Marchetti, M., Quaglia, F. M., Varettoni, M., Delgado, J. ,... Ghia, P. (2020). COVID-19 severity and mortality in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a joint study by ERIC, the European Research Initiative on CLL, and CLL Campus. LEUKEMIA, 34 (9), pp.2354-2363. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-020-0959-x.Access Status
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https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC7347048?pdf=renderAbstract
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a disease of the elderly, characterized by immunodeficiency. Hence, patients with CLL might be considered more susceptible to severe complications from COVID-19. We undertook this retrospective international multicenter study to characterize the course of COVID-19 in patients with CLL and identify potential predictors of outcome. Of 190 patients with CLL and confirmed COVID-19 diagnosed between 28/03/2020 and 22/05/2020, 151 (79%) presented with severe COVID-19 (need of oxygen and/or intensive care admission). Severe COVID-19 was associated with more advanced age (≥65 years) (odds ratio 3.72 [95% CI 1.79–7.71]). Only 60 patients (39.7%) with severe COVID-19 were receiving or had recent (≤12 months) treatment for CLL at the time of COVID-19 versus 30/39 (76.9%) patients with mild disease. Hospitalization rate for severe COVID-19 was lower (p < 0.05) for patients on ibrutinib versus those on other regimens or off treatment. Of 151 patients with severe disease, 55 (36.4%) succumbed versus only 1/38 (2.6%) with mild disease; age and comorbidities did not impact on mortality. In CLL, (1) COVID-19 severity increases with age; (2) antileukemic treatment (particularly BTK inhibitors) appears to exert a protective effect; (3) age and comorbidities did not impact on mortality, alluding to a relevant role of CLL and immunodeficiency.
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