COVID-19 in haematology patients: a multicentre West Midlands clinical outcomes analysis on behalf of West Midlands Research Consortium

The authors report on a detailed insight into 112 patients with comorbidity of haematological conditions and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), admitted into nine National Health Services Trusts in the West Midlands Area of the United Kingdom, between 1st of March 2020 and 31st May 2020. In the study cohort, 82% of patients had a malignant haematological disorder whist 18% had a non-malignant haematological condition. Increasing age, breathlessness, reduction in oxygen saturation under 90% and abnormal chest x-ray were independently associated with higher mortality. Other long-term co-morbidities had no identified adverse impact in this population. Survival analysis demonstrated that the COVID-19 severity score had a significant adverse correlation on patient outcome. COVID-19 patients classified as low risk, based on their primary haematological condition, showed significantly shorter survival time than those in the high-risk category, which may be due to shielding strategy. The 55% overall mortality in this cohort suggests that patients with haematological conditions had higher mortality rate.