Discharge outcomes in COVID and non-COVID cohorts of hospitalized patients with cancer: A comparative analysis in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

e23063 Background: This research aimed to assess and compare the discharge outcomes in two cohorts of hospitalized oncology patients – those with COVID-19 and those without COVID-19 in the initial year of COVID pandemic. Methods: This study compared the length of hospital stay, 30-day readmission, in-hospital mortality, death within 30 days of admission, and death within 90 days of admission between the COVID cohort and the non-COVID cohort, based on prospectively collected hospitalization data from March 2020 to February 2021 at a prominent US cancer center. Results: The study included 4,225 oncology patients, with 551 having COVID-19. Aged on average around 61, both cohorts showed similar gender distribution and were predominantly White or Caucasian, with the most common cancers being hematological. Patients in the COVID cohort experienced a significantly extended hospital stay with a mean length of 12.2 days versus 8.27 days for the non-COVID cohort (p < 0.001). The median stay was also longer for the COVID cohort at 8 days 1, 103 compared to 5 days 1, 141 for the non-COVID cohort. The COVID cohort had a lower 30-day readmission rate post-discharge at 66.6% compared to 71.7% in the non-COVID cohort, with the difference being statistically significant (p = 0.015). Within the COVID cohort, a smaller proportion of patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge (66.6%), as opposed to the non-COVID cohort (71.7%), with a p-value of 0.015. Although the COVID cohort experienced a higher rate of in-hospital mortality at 11.3% compared to 6.9% in the non-COVID cohort (p < 0.001), there were no significant differences in the rates of death within 30 days of admission (COVID cohort: 25.6% vs. non-COVID cohort: 27.6%, p = 0.349) or within 90 days of admission (COVID cohort: 28.9% vs. non-COVID cohort: 31.7%, p = 0.195) between the two cohorts. Conclusions: Oncology patients with COVID-19 faced longer hospital stays and higher in-hospital mortality rates than those without COVID-19. However, the COVID-19 cohort had a lower rate of readmission within 30 days after discharge. Despite the greater severity of hospitalization for COVID-19 patients, the mortality rates 30 and 90 days post-admission did not significantly differ from those without COVID-19. These findings underscore the need for intensified care and monitoring of hospitalized oncology patients with COVID-19, while also acknowledging the comparable longer-term survival between the cohorts.