What Information is Collected in the CCC19 Survey?
The survey includes the following five data collection forms: 1) Patient Demographics; 2) COVID-19 Details; 3) Cancer Details; 4) Respondent Details; 5) Follow-up. The schema above illustrates most of the data types collected for each of the clinical forms. Read on for more details:
1) Patient Demographics: This form captures patient demographics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, country of residence and city and facility where the patient received treatment. If the survey respondent can provide further information, we collect information on urban-rural status of patient’s residence, insurance status, ECOG performance status, smoking status, body mass index, blood type, and details of surgery and concomitant medications prior to COVID-19 diagnosis. An emphasis was given to collect number and details of significant comorbidities which required active treatment at the time of infection diagnosis to tease out severe medical conditions from pre-existing conditions routinely captured in EHR problem lists, which can be variably accurate.
2) Cancer Details: This form captures cancer type, stage, status, treatment details such as duration between treatment and infection, modality (e.g., chemotherapy, immunotherapy), context (e.g., adjuvant, first line non-curative, etc.), and adverse events for some modalities such as immunotherapy. Specific history of cardiopulmonary toxic treatment including radiation is collected. For certain histologies e.g., breast, prostate, and bladder, additional cancer-specific information is collected.
3) COVID-19 Details: Variables included timing, presenting symptoms, laboratory values at diagnosis or index event (e.g., hospitalization), diagnostic testing, initial severity of illness, co-infections, complications, anti-COVID-19 treatments including those administered as part of clinical trials, and clinical status at the time of reporting.
4) Respondent Details: This short form collects information on the relationship of the respondent to the patient being reported, and their general role (e.g., hematologist/oncologist, infectious disease specialist, etc.). No personal details are collected.
5) Follow-Up: A generic follow-up form is repeatable, i.e., new instances can be filled out an indefinite number of times. Suggested time intervals are currently 30-day, 90-day, and 180-day follow-up from COVID-19 diagnosis to include interval medical events, anti-COVID-19 treatments, interval clinical status, final COVID-19 status if known, and effects on anti-cancer treatment plans. Death, time from COVID-19 diagnosis to death, and cause are collected from all patients at each follow-up data entry.
Frequently Asked Questions for potential participants
Thank you for considering participation in the COVID-19 & Cancer Consortium (CCC19). This short FAQ is intended to answer initial questions that you may have.
Q1: What are the potential benefits of joining CCC19?
First and foremost, the benefit is the opportunity to join with colleagues around the country and soon, around the world, towards the common cause of understanding better the unique effects of COVID-19 on patients with cancer, including a history of cancer. We are a rapidly growing community now more than 100 persons strong, united towards this common goal. As of March 31st, there are more than 50 institutions participating across 26 states; many of these sites are NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Through pooling of data, we anticipate a rapid accumulation of knowledge. Plans for data sharing within the consortium are still fluid but will include aggregated data generally, and granular data for more focused projects. Additional benefits include the possibility of distributed funding, and the opportunity to participate in the publication of results.
Q2: What are the expectations for CCC19 participating institutions?
The main expectation is that the participating institution will make an effort to identify and report ALL cases of COVID-19 in patients with a current or prior history of invasive malignancy – not just those in the critically ill. In order to fully understand this pandemic, we need to capture data on relatively asymptomatic outpatients as well as those heavily affected by the disease. Likewise, the participating institution will make an effort to avoid duplicated data entry; many institutions are operationalizing this by identifying a “point-person” such as a hematology/oncology fellow or a dedicated data team. Finally, we request data on 30-day and 90-day outcomes so there should be an institutional commitment to continue reporting data even after the acute phase of the pandemic. There is no cost to join this voluntary effort; all help is received gratefully!
Q3: How do we join?
All you need to do is indicate your interest to join and provide contact information for a site PI; we will then send further onboarding instructions. Eligibility is restricted to certain countries; please inquire first if you are located at a non-US-based institution.