Factors affecting COVID-19 disease severity in breast cancer patients: Single-Center experience

Abstract

Objective: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is one of the large-scale pandemics affecting the whole World. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. This study aims to examine the factors that may be effective on COVID-19 disease severity in breast cancer patients. Material and Methods: This study was carried out as a single-center and retrospective study with a total of 65 patients with a pathological diagnosis of breast cancer who were hospitalized between April 2020 and June 2021. The patients were divided into two groups, mild and severe. 35 patients were in the mild group and 30 patients were in the severe group. Patients with oxygen saturation below 93 percent, needing non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, shock, and multiple organ failure were included in the severe group. Results: A total of 17 parameters that may affect disease severity were analyzed. As a result of the univariate analysis performed to evaluate the potential factors that may affect the severity of the disease, statistically, significant differences were found: the patient had diabetes mellitus (P=0.050), the neutrophil count increased during hospitalization (P=0.002), the lymphocyte count decreased at admission (P). =0.001), high d-dimer level during hospitalization (P=0.007), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio above 2.55 (P=0.016). Conclusion: As a result, the presence of diabetes mellitus, neutrophilia, lymphocytopenia, high D-dimer, and increased lymphocyte to monocyte ratio in patients with breast cancer may aggravate the course of COVID-19 disease. These parameters may be predictive for closer follow-up in terms of clinical deterioration of the patients.