Cancer, transplantation, and other immunocompromising conditions were not significantly associated with severe COVID-19 or death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Chicago

Background: Cancer, transplant, and other immunocompromising conditions have been associated with severe COVID-19 illness [1,2] On 15 May 2020, Cook County had the highest COVID-19 county incidence in the US with 58 457 cumulative cases, 1500 new infections, and 50 deaths daily, and University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH) had identified 1969 COVID-19 patients Methods: We determined the incidence of severe COVID-19 illness in the first 401 patients at UCH from 13 March 2020 to 18 April 2020 with a structured chart review and the UCH clinical data warehouse and its association with symptoms, comorbidities, and COVID clinical syndromes Severe COVID-19 was defined as: use of high flow 02, CPAP, or helmet;mechanical ventilation;ECMO;or death Results: Of 401 patients, 90% were black, 2% Latinx, 6% white, and 2% other, 52% were women, and ages were >80 years 14%, 70 to 79 17%, 60 to 69 23%, 50 to 59 21%, 40 to 49 12%, and 60, HTN, CKD, DM, and CHF were associated with severe illness COPD, CAD, CA, and IC were not associated with a greater risk of severe illness (Table 1) In multivariate analysis, age >60 years was the strongest predictor of severe illness, and CA and IC were not associated with severe illness Incident ARDS, acute kidney injury, PE, DVT, high Ddimer, MI, arrhythmia, uncontrolled DM, DKA, cytokine release syndrome, altered mental status, co-infection, and hepatitis also were associated with severe illness or death Conclusions: In a predominately African American population of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 on the South Side of Chicago, cancer, organ transplantation, HIV, autoimmune disease, and immunosuppressive therapy were not significantly associated with severe COVID-19 illness or death