Deadly Covid-19 killed a fifth of all cancer patients who contracted the virus, cautioned scientists after analysing data from across the globe.
In fact, they found that cancer patients who contract Covid-19 face a mortality rate of 22.4 per cent, i.e. 273 times higher than the death rate for non-cancer patients infected with virus.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, also showed that those with lung and blood cancer face a higher risk.
In contrast, other known risk factors such as diabetes and heart disease were less significant to those in the cancer group. The international study holds importance for India which, as per recent World Cancer Report, in 2018 there are about 1.16 million new cases, 784,800 deaths, and 2.26 million five-year prevalent cases.
And that one in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime and one in 15 will die of the disease.
Researchers looked at 15 studies from across the world which in total involved 3,019 patients and also found that treatment such as chemotherapy has no effect on mortality rate.
Professor Justin Stebbing, study lead and professor of medicine and oncology at Imperial College London, said that the finding should not be ignored.
‘The NHS is open, and will carry on with cancer treatment, but the lesson from these findings is that we have to prioritise these very vulnerable people.
‘A lockdown doesn’t apply to hospitals but it does tend to cause that as an aside. Prioritising virus testing for patients and their care workers, and including these patients in the early roll-out phase of vaccines, is what we must now do.’
The authors of the study said patients should be encouraged to attend routine cancer screenings and follow ups as long as ‘proper precautionary measures’ are taken prior to a clinical visit.
As well as increased risk for those with lung and blood cancer, the research also found that being aged over 65 and being male also increased the risk of mortality.