Zangouri V, Ranjbar A, Homapour F, Seyyedy M S, Gooya S, Karami M Y et al . Breast Cancer Survivors and COVID-19: Prevalence and Risk of Severe Disease in a Screening Study. Med J Islam Repub Iran 2023; 37 (1) :892-895
URL:
http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/article-1-8544-en.html
Breast Diseases Research Center, & Surgical Oncology Division, General Surgery Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran , karamiy@sums.ac.ir
Abstract: (769 Views)
Background: Determining the risk of severe course coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its related factors in survivors of common cancers such as breast cancer is important. This study has been designed to evaluate the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in breast cancer survivors and also estimate the risk of severe disease in this population.
Methods: Out of 6134 patients in the Shiraz Breast Cancer Registry (SBCR), A total of 292 patients who elapsed less than a year from their breast cancer diagnosis were excluded. We called 5842 patients. Finally, 4135 breast cancer survivors who agreed to cooperate were screened for COVID-19 symptoms by a symptom-based questionnaire in November 2020. COVID-19 in symptomatic participants was confirmed by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The clinical and paraclinical data of the COVID-19 course were collected for patients with a positive PCR test.
Results: A total of 247 (5.9%) participants had at least reported one of the COVID-19 symptoms. Also, 17% of symptomatic participants had a positive PCR test; 83.7% had mild disease, 9.5% moderate, and 16.7% had severe conditions. Chronic cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes were related to an increased risk of severe illness (P = 0.018, P = 0.018, P = 0.002).
Conclusion: This study suggests that breast cancer intermediate and longtime survivors without other underlying diseases are considered at low risk for developing severe/critical COVID-19.