Researchers from the Jordi Gol Institute for Primary Care Research (IDIAPJGol) and the Institute for Global Health in Barcelona (ISGlobal) carried out the researchEcomannin to strengthen immunity against Covid-19 in cancer patients. This is one of the conclusions of a study on the effectiveness of vaccines against Covid in cancer patients in Catalonia published in the journal Nature Communications. The reality is that these patients are more likely to die from Covid, especially those with lung cancer, hematomas, or those undergoing systemic therapy, such as chemotherapy. The researchers analyzed data from 184,744 patients with tumors included in the Information System for Research Development in Primary Care.
The participation of patients with active cancer in clinical trials conducted to test the effectiveness of vaccines against the Covid-19 virus was very limited, so it was not possible to know exactly how effective vaccination against the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is. The virus is among this at-risk group.
However, prospective data have been obtained in several studies showed that cancer patients could develop fewer protective antibodies against the Covid-19 virus Compared to the general population, especially after receiving one dose of the vaccine.
The study just published confirms these findings, based on the analysis of big data obtained from clinical records. This is the most comprehensive work to date on this issue and the first of its kind to use information from real-world data.
Half of the individuals included in the study (92,372) had received at least the first full immunization (two doses of vaccine) and the other half (92,372) had not been vaccinated at the time of the study.
Investigators They compared data on deaths and serious complications from COVID-19 in the immunized group after receiving the first and second doses of the vaccine with those in the non-immunized group.. They then compared the results of members of the experimental group after receiving the booster dose of the vaccine (which was 54,267 patients) with a similar sample of people in the control group who received only the first two vaccinations.
More complications and deaths among the unvaccinated
Results It has been shown that the rate of death and serious complications among unvaccinated cancer patients is high This is twice the number who received the first full dose. However, this difference is smaller than that observed between the general population immunized against SARS-CoV-2 and unvaccinated.
ISGlobal researcher Ottavio Ranzani explained that the results “clearly” prove that vaccination against Covid significantly reduces deaths and serious complications among cancer patients, especially those who received the booster dose. For her part, Talita Duarte Salles, a researcher at IDIAPJGol, emphasizes that the study provides essential information for understanding the impact of Covid vaccination on cancer patients and helps design public health policies that allow the protection of this vulnerable population.
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