COVID-19 Infection Correlated With MDS Disease Features

By Patrick Daly - Last Updated: September 26, 2024

Researchers identified a strong correlation between COVID-19 infection and disease severity in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), according to a retrospective observational study presented at the Society of Hematologic Oncology 2024 Annual Meeting.

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Lead author, Rana Abdelfatah, MD, of Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, noted that the impact of COVID-19 infection had been described in a variety of hematologic malignancies, but not MDS.

The analysis included 88 patients with MDS who were seen at Ain Shams University between January 2020 and December 2022. Thirty-four (40.5%) patients were categorized as MDS with multilineage dysplasia.

The researchers reviewed characteristics of patients’ MDS diagnosis including age, sex, bone marrow measures, risk stratification, prognostic status, cytogenetic assessment, and management strategy. The study also assessed COVID-19 diagnoses by polymerase chain reaction, chest x-ray, clinical presentation, treatments used, and vaccination type and doses.

Reportedly, the analysis identified a significant association between COVID-19 infection and hematological presentations of MDS (P<.05). Specifically, COVID-19 infection was significantly associated with MDS classification, percentage of bone marrow blast cells, and the degree of dysplasia (P<.001). Additionally, COVID-19 infection was associated with MDS severity (P<.05).

The only cytogenetic features associated with COVID-19 were deletion of chromosome 5 (P<.01) and complex cytogenetic anomalies (P<.05), the authors noted.

“There was a strong correlation between COVID-19 infection and MDS severity, with a significant association between COVID-19 infection and the hematological presentation, percentage of blast cells, and the degree of dysplasia,” the authors concluded.

Reference

Abdelfatah RG, Shawkat SA, Ali MA, et al. Correlation between myelodysplastic syndrome and COVID-19 infection. Abstract #MDS-242. Presented at the Society of Hematologic Oncology 2024 Annual Meeting; September 4-7, 2024; Houston, Texas.

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