Features of the course of non‑small cell lung cancer and the percentage of lymphocytes in the blood of patients who had recovered from COVID‑19

Purpose of the study. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of the course of cell lung cancer (LC) and the information content of the indicators of the adaptation status of patients of different sexes who had COVID‑19, confirmed by PCR diagnostic results before the start of antitumor treatment. Patients and methods. We have studied traditional clinical and laboratory parameters, and the white blood cell count in patients with non‑small cell LC st. I–III, men (59) and women (32) aged 36–75 years. The main groups included 32 men and 16 women who had COVID‑19, confirmed by real‑time PCR, 2–9 months before hospitalization. Patients in the control groups denied having a history of diagnosed COVID‑19. Before the start of antitumor treatment, the percentage of lymphocytes in the blood was assessed. Cases of LC progression and mortality within a year after antitumor treatment were noted. Results. In men of the main group a 2.7‑fold increase (p < 0.05) in cases of early lung cancer stagings with a simultaneous tendency towards an increase in the number of incidences of metastasizing and mortality within a year after inpatient treatment in comparison with control indexes were observed. Signs of disease severity worsening and a decrease in the effectiveness of treatment were observed without significant changes in the ratio of the patients with tumors of various stagings in female patients. In patients of the main groups, a disturbance of the correspondence between the percentage of lymphocytes and the prevalence and dynamics of the malignant process was noted. In men of the main group who died within the first year after the end of antitumor treatment, the percentage of lymphocytes before the start of treatment reached 28–45 %, corresponding to antistress adaptational reactions, 4 times more often than in the control group (p < 0.01) Conclusion. COVID‑19 flow before the start of LC treatment contributes to a decrease in the body's antitumor resistance and a violation of the informativeness of the percentage of blood lymphocytes as an indicator of adaptation status. Changes depend on sex. In women, the observed changes reflected an aggravation of the malignant process and systemic disorders, as well as a decrease in the effectiveness of treatment. In men, a sharp increase in the number of cases of one year mortality with high percentage of blood lymphocytes before the start of treatment, as well as the number of cases of early‑ stage LC, indicates a more significant change in the state of lymphocytes compared to that observed only in LC, as well as the possibility of acceleration of the transition of precancerous cells into malignant process in the lungs under the influence of a previous coronavirus infection.