Population-based study of COVID-19 mortality risk in US cancer patients

Analysis of the SEER database investigated the risk of COVID-19 mortality among US cancer patients. Among 4,020,669 patients with 15 types of cancer in 2020, a total of 291,323 patients died, with 14,821 (5.1%) deaths attributed to COVID-19. The COVID-19 disease-specific mortality rate was 11.81 per 10.000 person-years, and the standardized mortality ratio of COVID-19 was 2.30 (95% CI 2.26-2.34). COVID-19 ranked as the second leading cause of death (after ischemic heart disease; 5.2%) among 26 non-cancer causes of death. Older patient, males, unmarried patients, and Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black patients were at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality.