Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in patients with hematological malignancies in the Omicron era: Respiratory failure, need for mechanical ventilation and mortality in seronegative and seropositive patients

Abstract

Background

Patients with hematological malignancies (HM) have a high risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), also in the Omicron period.

Material and methods

Retrospective single-center study including HM patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) infection from January 2022 to March 2023. Study outcomes were respiratory failure (RF), mechanical ventilation (MV), and COVID-related mortality, comparing patients according to SARS-CoV2 serology.

Results

Note that, 112 patients were included: 39% had negative SARS-CoV2 serology. Seronegative were older (71.5 vs. 65.0 years, p = 0.04), had more often a lymphoid neoplasm (88.6% vs. 69.1%, p = 0.02), underwent anti-CD20 therapy (50.0% vs. 30.9% p = 0.04) and had more frequently a severe disease (23.0% vs. 3.0%, p = 0.02) than seropositive.

Kaplan-Meier showed a higher risk for seronegative patients for RF (p = 0.014), MV (p = 0.044), and COVID-related mortality (p = 0.021). Negative SARS-CoV2 serostatus resulted in a risk factor for RF (hazards ratio [HR] 2.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–4.67, p = 0.04), MV (HR 3.37, 95% CI 1.06–10.68, p = 0.04), and COVID-related mortality (HR 4.26, 95% CI 1.09–16.71, p = 0.04).

Conclusions

: HM patients with negative SARS-CoV2 serology, despite vaccinations and previous infections, have worse clinical outcomes compared to seropositive patients in the Omicron era. The use of serology for SARS-CoV2 diagnosis could be an easy tool to identify patients prone to developing complications.