NEW ORLEANS– LSU Health New Orleans researchers have helped to discover the impact of Covid-19 on cancer patients.
Ever since the pandemic hit, doctors have been concerned with Covid-19’s effects on cancer patients.
“There were a lot of unanswered questions, so this was able to grab real time data among multiple institutions throughout the world to better understand what it was doing to our cancer patients.
In a study, LSU Health New Orleans researchers found that people with cancer have a higher risk for Covid-related deaths.
“In the study we took a look at a 30 day time period and found out what the percentage of the cancer patients died within the first 30 days of their covid-19 diagnosis,” Dr. Suki Subbiah, LSU Health Scott Cancer Center said.
She went on to say, ” The study revealed that the death rate is 13 percent of cancer patients with covid-19, which is more than double the rate of the population that acquires Covid-19. That is concerning for cancer patients.”
They studied over 900 cancer patients and found that older men, who were previously smokers, and who had two or more other illnesses were at a higher risk. The authors of the study cannot formally ascertain if the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithoromycin given any clinical benefit or overall harm to patients given the non-randomized nature of the study, and the possibility of other possible clinical imbalances.
In a subsequent study of 2,700 patients, they found the death rate was 16 percent.
The study is giving doctors a better understanding on how they can help their patients with cancer. It’s been a concern for those patients as to how they should proceed with treatments during this pandemic.
“If you’re currently a cancer patient and you’re not receiving care, it is still important that you keep in contact with your cancer doctor,” Dr. Subbiah said.
The study also will help doctors advise their patients on how best to receive treatments and any complications that could arise from Covid-19.
They also studied the effects of cancer treatments and medications and the risk of covid-related deaths.
The study was funded by the American Cancer Society, National Institute’s of Health, and Hope Foundation for Cancer Research.
The findings of the study are published in The Lancet.