Characteristics of COVID-19 patients with malignancies comorbidity in Sanglah General Hospital, Bali, Indonesia

Background Cancer patients are at risk of exposing COVID-19 because of their weakened immune system, caused by tumor growth and anti-cancer therapy. Cancer patients can also increase the risk of severe infection. This study aims to determine the characteristic of COVID-19 patients with malignancies in our institution. Methods: We analyze the data of 68 COVID-19 patients with malignancies as comorbidities who were hospitalized or treated in our institution using cohort retrospective design. Variables assessed in this study include gender, age, type of malignancy, organ involved, cancer treatment, the severity of COVID-19, and outcome. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 for Windows and interpreted as number and percentage. Results: Solid malignancy was the most common type (82,4%). The lung and thorax were the most common organ involved, followed by the cervix, abdomen, breast, and nasopharynx. Most patients (66.2%) with malignancy suffered from COVID- 19 with mild-moderate (non-severe) symptoms and 33,8% severe symptoms. Sixteen (23.5%) patients have died. Laboratory findings showed elevated NLR and D-dimer in both severe and non-severe cases. The median NLR of all cases was 5.97. The median D-dimer was 1.61 ig/mI. Patients with solid malignancy (35.7%) are more exposed to severe COVID-19 than the hematological type (p=0.477). Patients with malignancy who had received therapy for their cancer had more severe symptoms than those who had not received cancer therapy (41.7% vs. 25%) (p=0.147), although not statistically significant. Conclusion: Solid malignancy was the most common type diagnosed with COVID-19. More malignancy patients experienced mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms, and one-third of them experienced severe symptoms.