Clinical course and outcomes of COVID‐19 in hematopoietic cell transplant patients, a regional report from the Middle East

El Fakih, Riad; Haroon, Alfadil; Alfraih, Feras; Al-Khabori, Murtadha K.; Alzahrani, Mohsen; Alhuraiji, Ahmad; Hamadah, Abdulaziz; AlJohani, Naif I.; Alahmari, Bader; Essa, Mohammed F.; Motabi, Ibraheem H.; Tailor, Imran K.; Almaghrabi, Reem S.; Al-Farsi, Khalil; Abosoudah, Ibraheem; Ayas, Mouhab; Elhassan, Tusneem A.; Suhebeh, Ashraf M.; Ahmed, Syed Osman; Alhayli, Saud; Kaloyannidis, Panayotis; Alsaeed, Ahmad; Anezi, Khalid Al; Alamoudi, Sameer; Damlaj, Moussab; Hashmi, Hani Al; Aljurf, Mahmoud

The coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) caused by SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) is a potentially lethal infection. Cancer patients, and specifically hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients are severely immunocompromised and may be at a higher risk of a complicated course with this infection. We aimed to study the COVID-19 outcomes and severity in post HCT patients. We retrospectively reviewed post-HCT patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 15, 2020, and December 1, 2020 at 10 transplant centers across the Middle East. We identified 91 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection across 10 transplant centers. The median age upon presentation with COVID-19 was 35. Fifty two patients were post allo-HCT while the remaining 39 patients were post auto-HCT. The median time from transplant was 14.9 months. Mortality rate was 4.4%. Hospital admission rate was 53%. ICU admission rate was 14%. Mechanical ventilation rate was 10%. Oxygen supplementation rate was 18%. Time from HCT to COVID-19 >6 months was associated with lower admission rates and lower rates of the “severity” composite endpoint. Antibody responses was seen 67% of evaluable patients. In this series of HCT recipients, we report overall favorable clinical outcomes for patients with COVID-19 and provide preliminary insights into the clinical course of this disease in this specific population.