Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on care delivery, follow-up, and outcomes in chronic myeloid leukemia patients: An observational cohort study

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm that comprises a chronic phase. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the impact of care delivery and loss of follow-up or defaulted treatment due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the outcome in known chronic myeloid leukemia patients. Data was retrospectively retrieved and prospectively evaluated from the known and treated CML patients. A questionnaire was prepared for history. Bone marrow slides stained with Giemsa stain and multi-color flow cytometry were used for the evaluation of blast type in all blast crisis cases. A total of 961 new CML cases were reported, age range from 21 to 78 years, results were analyzed in three different cohort groups based on their time of diagnosis. Loss of follow-up was noticed mainly during the COVID-19 period and thereafter because of non-compliance. Data shows that about 53% of cases showed no hematological response and about 34% transformed into a CML blast crisis phase.