COVID-19 severity and mortality in patients with CLL: an update of the international ERIC and Campus CLL study
Authors: Thomas Chatzikonstantinou, Anargyros Kapetanakis, Lydia Scarfò, Georgios Karakatsoulis, David Allsup, Alejandro Alonso Cabrero, Martin Andres, Darko Antic, Mónica Baile, Panagiotis Baliakas, Dominique Bron, Antonella Capasso, Sofia Chatzileontiadou, Raul Cordoba, Juan-Gonzalo Correa, Carolina Cuéllar-García, Lorenzo De Paoli, Maria Rosaria De Paolis, Giovanni Del Poeta, Christos Demosthenous, Maria Dimou, David Donaldson, Michael Doubek, Maria Efstathopoulou, Barbara Eichhorst, Shaimaa El-Ashwah, Alicia Enrico, Blanca Espinet, Lucia Farina, Angela Ferrari, Myriam Foglietta, Henrik Frederiksen, Moritz Fürstenau, José A. García-Marco, Rocío García-Serra, Massimo Gentile, Eva Gimeno, Andreas Glenthøj, Maria Gomes da Silva, Odit Gutwein, Yervand K. Hakobyan, Yair Herishanu, José Ángel Hernández-Rivas, Tobias Herold, Idanna Innocenti, Gilad Itchaki, Ozren Jaksic, Ann Janssens, Оlga B. Kalashnikova, Elżbieta Kalicińska, Linda Katharina Karlsson, Arnon P. Kater, Sabina Kersting, Jorge Labrador, Deepesh Lad, Luca Laurenti, Mark-David Levin, Enrico Lista, Alberto Lopez-Garcia, Lara Malerba, Roberto Marasca, Monia Marchetti, Juan Marquet, Mattias Mattsson, Francesca R. Mauro, Ivana Milosevic, Fatima Mirás, Marta Morawska, Marina Motta, Talha Munir, Roberta Murru, Carsten U. Niemann, Raquel Nunes Rodrigues, Jacopo Olivieri, Lorella Orsucci, Maria Papaioannou, Miguel Arturo Pavlovsky, Inga Piskunova, Viola Maria Popov, Francesca Maria Quaglia, Giulia Quaresmini, Kristian Qvist, Gianluigi Reda, Gian Matteo Rigolin, Rosa Ruchlemer, Gevorg Saghumyan, Amit Shrestha, Martin Šimkovič, Martin Špaček, Paolo Sportoletti, Oana Stanca, Niki Stavroyianni, Tamar Tadmor, Doreen Te Raa, Sanne H. Tonino, Livio Trentin, Ellen Van Der Spek, Michel van Gelder, Roel van Kampen, Marzia Varettoni, Andrea Visentin, Candida Vitale, Ewa Wasik-Szczepanek, Tomasz Wróbel, Lucrecia Yáñez San Segundo, Mohamed Yassin, Marta Coscia, Alessandro Rambaldi, Emili Montserrat, Robin Foà, Antonio Cuneo, Kostas Stamatopoulos, Paolo Ghia
Journal: Leukemia (2021)

Abstract Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) may be more susceptible to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to age, disease, and treatment-related immunosuppression. We aimed to assess risk factors of outcome and elucidate the impact of CLL-directed treatments on the course of COVID-19. We conducted a retrospective, international study, collectively including 941 patients with CLL and confirmed COVID-19. Data from the beginning of the pandemic until March 16, 2021, were collected from 91 centers. The risk factors of case fatality rate (CFR), disease severity, and overall survival (OS) were investigated. OS analysis was restricted to patients with severe COVID-19 (definition: hospitalization with need of oxygen or admission into an intensive care unit). CFR in patients with severe COVID-19 was 38.4%. OS was inferior for patients in all treatment categories compared to untreated ( p &lt; 0.001). Untreated patients had a lower risk of death (HR = 0.54, 95% CI:0.41–0.72). The risk of death was higher for older patients and those suffering from cardiac failure (HR = 1.03, 95% CI:1.02–1.04; HR = 1.79, 95% CI:1.04–3.07, respectively). Age, CLL-directed treatment, and cardiac failure were significant risk factors of OS. Untreated patients had a better chance of survival than those on treatment or recently treated.