ReviewEcancermedicalscience2020
SARS-CoV-2 testing for asymptomatic adult cancer patients before initiating systemic treatments: a systematic review.
Review in Ecancermedicalscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and breakthrough infections in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with cancer.British journal of cancer · 2022Trial
- Association of Cancer History with COVID-19 Risk and Outcomes among Older Postmenopausal Women: Results from the Women's Health Initiative.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
- Global Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Patients and its Treatment: A Systematic Review.Clinical complementary medicine and pharmacology · 2022Review
- ESCMID guidelines on testing for SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic individuals to prevent transmission in the health care setting.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2022Article
- Risk stratification by anamnesis increases SARS-CoV-2 test efficiency in cancer patients.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2022Article
- Efficacy and safety profile of COVID-19 vaccine in cancer patients: a prospective, multicenter cohort study.Future oncology (London, England) · 2022Article
- Time-Dependent COVID-19 Mortality in Patients With Cancer: An Updated Analysis of the OnCovid Registry.JAMA oncology · 2022Article
- Routine COVID-19 testing may not be necessary for most cancer patients.Scientific reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionCancer patients may have a higher risk of severe events and unfavourable outcomes in the setting of COVID-19. This review addresses the question of whether to test asymptomatic cancer patients before initiating systemic cancer treatments.
methodsThis systematic review was conducted based on the PRISMA framework. Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched, as well as guidelines from international institutions involved in cancer care and COVID-19 research. Studies published in English, from 1 December 2019 to 27 May 2020 were considered eligible. We included studies which mentioned testing strategies for SARS-CoV-2 of asymptomatic cancer patients before starting immunosuppressive treatments.
resultsWe identified 1,163 studies and 4 guidelines through the literature search. A total of 18 articles were considered eligible and were included in the final analysis. Two articles were cohort studies, and the remaining were expert consensuses and published guidelines. The most common recommendation among the studies in this systematic review was to test asymptomatic patients for SARS-CoV-2 prior to treatment.
conclusionThere is a lack of studies which directly address COVID-19 testing of asymptomatic patients before treatment. Our systematic review showed that most of the published data favours routine test for SARS-CoV-2 before initiating systemic treatment but failed to identify a good level of evidence to support these recommendations. Based upon this review, we proposed local recommendations at our centre. Each institution should consider the pros and cons of testing asymptomatic patients, evaluating accessibility to testing resources and local epidemiology.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.