Patients with cancer may be at increased risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the role of viral load on this risk is unknown. We measured SARS-CoV-2 viral load using cycle threshold (C_T) values from reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assays applied to nasopharyngeal swab specimens in 100 patients with cancer and 2,914 without cancer who were admitted to three New York City hospitals. Overall, the in-hospital mortality rate was 38.8% among patients with a high viral load, 24.1% among patients with a medium viral load, and 15.3% among patients with a low viral load (p < 0.001). Similar findings were observed in patients with cancer (high, 45.2% mortality; medium, 28.0%; low, 12.1%; p = 0.008). Patients with hematologic malignancies had higher median viral loads (C_T = 25.0) than patients without cancer (C_T = 29.2; p = 0.0039). SARS-CoV-2 viral load results may offer vital prognostic information for patients with and without cancer who are hospitalized with COVID-19.

癌症患者患 2019 年严重冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 的风险可能增加，但病毒载量对这种风险的作用尚不清楚。_{我们使用循环阈值 (C T} ) 值测量了 SARS-CoV-2 病毒载量，这些值来自应用于纽约市三所医院收治的 100 名癌症患者和 2,914 名非癌症患者的鼻咽拭子样本的逆转录聚合酶链反应。总体而言，高病毒载量患者的院内死亡率为 38.8%，中等病毒载量患者为 24.1%，低病毒载量患者为 15.3%（p < 0.001）。在癌症患者中也观察到了类似的结果（高死亡率为 45.2%；中死亡率为 28.0%；低死亡率为 12.1%；p = 0.008）。血液系统恶性肿瘤患者的病毒载量中位数较高（C _T = 25.0) 比没有癌症的患者 (C _T  = 29.2; p = 0.0039)。SARS-CoV-2 病毒载量结果可能为因 COVID-19 住院的癌症患者和非癌症患者提供重要的预后信息。