Frequency and Temporal Evolution of COVID-19 Vaccination Rate Among Oncological Patients Undergoing 18F-FDG-PET
15 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2022
Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the rate and temporal evolution of vaccination against COVID-19 in a Swiss oncological cohort of patients undergoing 18F-FDG-PET.
Methods: History of prior complete vaccination against COVID-19 of patients undergoing oncological 18F-FDG PET/CT between February and September 2021 (n=2613) was taken. Descriptive statistics of vaccination rate were applied. Vaccination rate was compared with national data from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. Subgroup differences in temporal evolution of vaccination rate were analyzed by fitting a generalized linear model and determined by significant interaction between, gender, oncological diagnosis, and month of examination.
Results: Rate of complete vaccination against COVID-19 steadily increased and reached 81 % in September 2021. The fraction of vaccinated patients in the oncological cohort was higher than in the overall Swiss population throughout the study period. Month of exam (p<0.001) and suspicion for malignant neoplasm (SMN, p=0.02) were significant predictors of the vaccination rate. Vaccination rate was lower in SMN.
Conclusion: Vaccination rate against COVID-19 in a Swiss oncological cohort increased steadily from February to September 2021 and was higher than in the general population. Vaccination rate was significantly lower in patients with SMN, probably as these patients do not have an established diagnosis of cancer at the time of imaging.
Note:
Funding: Dr. Stephan Skawran is supported by a grant from the Palatin-Foundation, Switzerland. Dr. Michael Messerli received a research grant from the Iten-Kohaut Foundation, Switzerland. Dr. Michael Messerli and Dr. Martin W. Huellner are supported by a grant from the CRPP AI Oncological Imaging Network of the University of Zurich. Dr. Martin W. Huellner received grants from GE Healthcare and a fund by the Alfred and Annemarie von Sick legacy for translational and clinical cardiac and oncological research.
Declaration of Interests: The University Hospital of Zurich holds a research agreement with GE Healthcare (unrelated to current study). Other than that, the authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Ethics Approval Statement: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This retrospective study protocol was approved by the local institutional ethics committee (Kantonale Ethikkommission Zürich) and written informed consent for the scientific use of medical data was obtained from all patients.
Trial Registration: Trial No. BASEC-Nr. 2021-00444.
Keywords: COVID-19, Vaccination, Fluordeoxyglucose, Cancer, Oncological Imaging
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