Dying from cancer with COVID-19: age, sex, socio-economic status, and comorbidities

Figures & data

Table 1. Excess deaths.

Month	Cancer deaths			Non-cancer deaths
	2016–2019 N (95% CI)	2020	Excess deaths	2016–2019 N (95% CI)	2020	Excess deaths
March	416 (373–458)	461	11%	1059 (937–1180)	1358	28%
April	402 (385–421)	560	38%	974 (908–1038)	2374	144%
May	375 (334–416)	446	19%	912 (878–946)	1414	55%

There were more deaths in 2020, than the average death rates in 2016–2019: For each month, the number of deaths in 2020 was higher than the upper limit for the 95% confidence interval.

Table 2. Characteristics 2020 for all deaths, with or without COVID-19, compared to 2016–2019 (with 95% CI).

Characteristics	2016–2019 (March–May)	2020 (March–May)	p Value
Deaths, mean (95%CI) or n^a	1194 (1179–1208)	1467^b
Women, N (95%CI)	565 (537–594)	626^b
Men, N (95%CI)	628 (598–658)	841^b
Age, all years (SD)^c	75.3 (13.0)	76.6 (13.5)	0.0009
Women^c	75.2 (13.6)	76.0 (14.3)	0.21 (n.s.)
Men^c	75.4 (12.5)	77.1 (12.8)	0.0008
Living in nursing homes
% of all cancer deaths^d	17	19	0.03
Age, only cancer deaths^c	84.7	86.7	0.008

^aMean and 95% CI refer to the years 2016–2019, whereas n (actual number) refers to 2020.

^bThe values for 2020 are significantly higher than the upper 95% CI limit for 2016–2019.

^cT-test was used for comparison of age.

^dChi-2 test was used for comparison of proportions.

Table 3. Deceased cancer patients March–May 2020 without or with a COVID-19 diagnosis, (t-test for age, Wilcoxon Rank Sum test for CCI, other tests with Chi-squared tests).

Characteristics	2020 no COVID-19 diagnosis	2020 COVID-19 diagnosis	p Value
Deaths, n total March–May	1189	278	N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
March 2020	446	15
April 2020	401	159
May 2020	342	104
Age, all (SD)	75.9 (13.8)	79.7 (11.4)	<0.0001
Women	75.1 (14.5)	81.3 (12.0)	<0.0001
Men	76.5 (13.2)	79.0 (11.0)	0.01
Proportion ≥80 years (%)	44%	53%	0.004
Sex
Women, n (%)	535 (45)	91 (33)	0.0002^a
Men, n (%)	654 (55)	187 (67)
Mosaic (%)
Group 1	29	27	0.36 (ns)
Group 2	39	38	0.21 (ns)
Group 3	32	35	0.29 (ns)
CCI^b	1.1	1.6	<0.0001
Palliative care (access) n (%)	698/1189 (59)	94/278 (34)	<0.0001
Change of care
Once, last 2 weeks	487/1189 (41)	172/278 (62)	<0.0001
2 or more times	261/1189 (22)	138/278 (50)	<0.0001
Hospital death	161/1189 (14)	95/278 (34)	<0.0001
Hospital death, despite palliative care^c	30/698 (4)	10/94 (11)	0.008

^aThe significance level (p < 0.0001) refers to the proportions of women/men without COVID-19 (45%/55%) compared with patients with a COVID-diagnosis (33%/67%).

^bCCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index.

^cHospital death despite palliative care = enrolled in palliative care but died in an acute hospital.