Explained: Study claims fatality rate among lung cancer patients due to coronavirus is high

New York, May 04: A new study in the United States has estimated the number of fatality rate among patients suffering from cancer patients infected with the deadly coronavirus. This study is described as the largest study has found out that the people suffering from cancer are more likely to succumb to the novel virus than those without cancer.

The study, that was conducted by physician-researchers at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, was published in the online edition of Cancer Discovery.

According to the study, it involves 218 cancer patients who tested positive for coronavirus from March 18 to April 8 at Montefiore Medical Center, New York.

Among these cancer patients, as many as 61 died from the novel coronavirus, a fatality rate of 28 per cent, as compared to the overall fatality rate of 5.8 per cent for coronavirus in the United States.

The reports stated that the patients were treated at a time when testing was mostly done in symptomatic patients who required medical attention. According to the researchers, the study partially explains the fatality rate within the study's cancer population.

However, even when compared to mortality rates in non-cancer patients across New York City during the same time period, cancer patients demonstrated a significantly higher risk of dying from coronavirus.

As a group, coronavirus patients suffering from blood cancers, such as leukaemia and lymphoma, had the highest mortality rate: 37 per cent, which is said to impact 20 of 54 patients. For patients with solid malignancies, the fatality rate stands at 25 per cent.

Meanwhile, massive differences were observed among specific solid cancers. The fatality rate for patients with lung cancer was 55 per cent and colorectal cancer was 38 per cent, compared with fatality rates of 14 per cent for breast cancer and 20 per cent for prostate cancer.