COVID-19 prevalence among cancer patients in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Relevance: The new coronavirus infection, COVID-19, has been spreading rapidly around the world since 2019, affecting the healthcare systems of most countries. According to recent studies, malignant diseases increase the susceptibility to COVID-19 and are a risk factor for worse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 also increases the risk of disease progression in patients with malignancies.
The study aimed to study the prevalence of COVID-19 among cancer patients in Kazakhstan.
Methods: The analysis included open-access articles published since 2019 and indexed in PubMed, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and e-Library by keywords “cancer,” “malignant neoplasms,” “COVID-19”, “cancer patients,” “mortality risk.” The official statistics data, medical information systems of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Electronic Register of Cancer Patients, Electronic Register of Inpatient Patients), and official periodicals on cancer incidence and mortality for 2020-2021 and COVID-19 incidence and mortality for 2020-2022 in Kazakhstan were studied.
Results: In the Republic of Kazakhstan, in 2020-2021, the highest cancer incidence was registered in North Kazakhstan (1.79-1.87%), Pavlodar (1.57-1.63%), Karaganda (1.54-1.53%) and Kostanay (1.53%) regions. The lowest rates were recorded in the Turkestan (0.42-0.41%), Kyzylorda (0.57-0.59%), Mangistau (0.62%) regions, and the city of Shymkent (0.60%). The highest cancer mortality in Kazakhstan was registered in the Turkestan (11.1%), Kyzylorda (10.2%), and Zhambyl (10.02%) regions in 2020, and in the Atyrau (25.4%), Turkestan (10.68%), and West Kazakhstan (10.30%) regions in 2021. The mortality from COVID-19 among patients registered for cancer in 2020 was the highest in the city of Astana (1.06%), the Kyzylorda (0.46%), and Turkestan (0.33%) regions, and in 2021 – in the cities of Shymkent (1.05%) and Astana (1,00%), the Atyrau (0.93%) and West Kazakhstan (0.94%) regions.
Conclusion: Thus, COVID-19 prevalence among cancer patients and their increased mortality during the pandemic, including the cases where the leading cause of death was not an oncological process but the consequences of the viral infection, evidence of the need to adjust the rules of statistical recording of cancer patients' morbidity and mortality, and the algorithms and protocols of diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients.