Association between serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and Omicron variant COVID-19 pneumonia in cancer patients: A multicenter cross-sectional study at the end of 2022 in China

Abstract

Cancer patients with COVID-19 have a higher infection rate and mortality rate than non-cancer patients. However, there are few studies on the correlation between the serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and cancer patients with COVID-19. This study aims to investigate the association between serum CRP and the incidence of COVID-19 pneumonia in cancer patients at the end of 2022 in China. This cross-sectional study with a retrospective cohort between December 2022 and February 2023 assessed cancer patients complicated with COVID-19 infection in 2 Chinese institutions. Logistic regression analyses were used to compute Odds ratio (OR) and 95%CIs for the association between serum CRP and the incidence of COVID-19 pneumonia in cancer patients. A total of 213 cancer patients with COVID-19 were enrolled. Eighty-six patients (40.4%) developed COVID-19 pneumonia, among which 23 patients (10.8%) progressed to severe cases. Univariate Logistic regression showed that high CRP levels were found to be an unfavorable predictor of COVID-19 outcomes (OR = 17.9, 95%CI: 7.3, 43.6; P