2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer (Posters)-P2.28. Symptomatic vs. Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection Rates in Lung Cancer: Longitudinal Nucleocapsid Antibody Analysis

P2.28. Symptomatic vs. Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection Rates in Lung Cancer: Longitudinal Nucleocapsid Antibody Analysis - PDF(Slides)

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A study conducted by researchers from multiple institutions aimed to determine the infection rates of SARS-CoV-2 in lung cancer patients. The study focused on both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections and used anti-nucleocapsid antibody (anti-N Ab) testing to detect evidence of infection. <br /><br />The researchers found that the overall infection rate among the lung cancer patients was twice as high when considering anti-N Ab testing compared to clinically documented records. It was observed that an equal number of patients had documented infections as those exhibiting positive anti-N serology, suggesting that there were mild or asymptomatic infections that went unreported. This highlights the importance of implementing routine anti-N serological testing to track infection rates in vulnerable groups like lung cancer patients. This would help in better understanding the impact of COVID-19, the efficacy of vaccination, and potential long-term effects on patient survival, treatment complications, and morbidity.<br /><br />The study used the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) assay to assess the levels of anti-N Ab in plasma samples collected from 175 lung cancer patients between January 2021 and January 2023. The results showed that 61% of the patients tested positive for anti-N Ab at least once during the study period. The positive anti-N Ab rate correlated with the presence of Delta and Omicron variants of the virus.<br /><br />By integrating serological testing results with documented cases, the researchers calculated the overall infection rate and estimated the cumulative breakthrough infection incidence. They found that the median time-to-infection among the patients was 18.3 months. The overall risk of breakthrough infection was 64%, with some patients experiencing multiple infections. The severity of breakthrough infections varied, with 3% documented as severe, 36% as non-severe, and 61% inferred from anti-N serology as likely asymptomatic or mild.<br /><br />Overall, the study highlights the importance of monitoring infection rates among vulnerable populations like lung cancer patients and suggests the need for routine anti-N serological testing to track and understand the impact of COVID-19 in these patient groups.

Asset Subtitle

Fred Hirsch

Meta Tag

Speaker Fred Hirsch

Topic Global Health, Health Services & Health Economics: COVID 19

Keywords

SARS-CoV-2

lung cancer patients

infection rates

anti-N Ab testing

symptomatic infections

asymptomatic infections

mild infections

routine testing

vulnerable groups

COVID-19 impact