Patients affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: A population particularly prone to developing severe forms of COVID‑19

Perri,Francesco; Crispo,Anna; Ionna,Franco; Muto,Paolo; Caponigro,Francesco; Longo,Francesco; Montagnese,Concetta; Franco,Pierluigi; Pavone,Ettore; Aversa,Corrado; Guida,Agostino; Bimonte,Sabrina; Ottaiano,Alessandro; Di Marzo,Massimiliano; Porciello,Giuseppe; Amore,Alfonso; Celentano,Egidio; Della Vittoria Scarpati,Giuseppina; Cascella,Marco

doi:10.3892/etm.2021.10733

Patients affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: A population particularly prone to developing severe forms of COVID‑19

Authors:
- Francesco Perri
- Anna Crispo
- Franco Ionna
- Paolo Muto
- Francesco Caponigro
- Francesco Longo
- Concetta Montagnese
- Pierluigi Franco
- Ettore Pavone
- Corrado Aversa
- Agostino Guida
- Sabrina Bimonte
- Alessandro Ottaiano
- Massimiliano Di Marzo
- Giuseppe Porciello
- Alfonso Amore
- Egidio Celentano
- Giuseppina Della Vittoria Scarpati
- Marco Cascella
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Affiliations: Head and Neck Medical and Experimental Oncology Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Otolaryngology Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Radiation Oncology Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Otolaryngology Unit, Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza di San Giovanni Rotondo, I-71013 Foggia, Italy, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Innovative Therapies for Abdominal Metastases, Department of Abdominal Oncology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Colorectal and Abdominal Surgery Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Department Melanoma, Soft Tissue, Muscle‑Skeletal and Head‑Neck, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, IRCCS ‘Fondazione G. Pascale’, I‑80131 Naples, Italy, Medical Oncology Unit, San Rocco Hospital, Sessa Aurunca, I‑81037 Caserta, Italy
Published online on: September 16, 2021 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2021.10733
Article Number: 1298
Copyright: © Perri et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is responsible for the recent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic, which has spread all over the world over the past year. Comorbidities appear to affect the prognosis of patients with such diseases, but the impact of cancer on the course of SARS‑CoV2 has remained largely elusive. The aim of the present study is to analyze the outcome of patients affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) and a number of their comorbidities, if infected with SARS‑CoV2. The clinical data of 100 patients affected by SCCHN, who were undergoing treatment or who had finished their oncologic treatment in the past 6 months, were retrospectively collected and analysed. For each patient, the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was calculated to provide a score assessing the real weight of comorbidities on the patient's outcome at the time of diagnosis. It was discovered that these patients, besides the SCCHN, frequently presented at diagnosis with several other comorbidities, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiac arrhytmia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and various forms of vasculopathy (and thus a poor CCI). This feature suggest that, given the high frequency of various comorbidities in patients with SCCHN, additional SARS‑CoV2 infection could have particularly devastating consequences.

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