COVID-19 infection in chronic myeloid leukaemia after one year of the pandemic in Italy. A Campus CML report

Breccia, Massimo;Abruzzese, Elisabetta;Accurso, Vincenzo;Attolico, Immacolata;Barulli, Sara;Bergamaschi, Micaela;Binotto, Gianni;Bocchia, Monica;Bonifacio, Massimiliano;Caocci, Giovanni;Capodanno, Isabella;Castagnetti, Fausto;Cavazzini, Francesco;Crisà, Elena;Crugnola, Monica;Stella De Candia, Maria;Elena, Chiara;Fava, Carmen;Galimberti, Sara;Gozzini, Antonella;Gugliotta, Gabriele;Intermesoli, Tamara;Iurlo, Alessandra;La Barba, Gaetano;Latagliata, Roberto;Leonetti Crescenzi, Sabrina;Levato, Luciano;Loglisci, Giuseppina;Lucchesi, Alessandro;Luciano, Luigiana;Lunghi, Francesca;Luzi, Debora;Malato, Alessandra;Cristina Miggiano, Maria;Pizzuti, Michele;Pregno, Patrizia;Rapezzi, Davide;Rege-Cambrin, Giovanna;Rosti, Gianantonio;Russo, Sabina;Sancetta, Rosaria;Rita Scortechini, Anna;Sorà, Federica;Sportoletti, Paolo;Stagno, Fabio;Tafuri, Agostino;Tiribelli, Mario;Foà, Robin;Saglio, Giuseppe

2022-01-01

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Abstract

Limited information is available on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). The Campus CML network collected retrospective information on 8 665 CML patients followed at 46 centres throughout Italy during the pandemic between February 2020 and January 2021. Within this cohort, we recorded 217 SARS-CoV-2-positive patients (2·5%). Most patients (57%) were diagnosed as having SARS-CoV-2 infection during the second peak of the pandemic (September 2020 to January 2021). The majority (35%) was aged between 50 and 65 years with a male prevalence (73%). Fifty-six percent of patients presented concomitant comorbidities. The median time from CML diagnosis to SARS-CoV-2 infection was six years (three months to 18 years). Twenty-one patients (9·6%) required hospitalization without the need of respiratory assistance, 18 (8·2%) were hospitalized for respiratory assistance, 8 (3·6%) were admitted to an intensive care unit, while 170 (78%) were only quarantined. Twenty-three percent of patients discontinued tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy during the infection. Twelve patients died due to COVID-19 with a mortality rate of 5·5% in the positive cohort and of 0·13% in the whole cohort. We could also document sequelae caused by the SARS-CoV-2 infection and an impact of the pandemic on the overall management of CML patients.