May 21, 2025- First-of-their-kind studies published in The Lancet Oncology and Cancer Medicine provide new data showing that cancer patients in both hospital and outpatient settings are at a substantially higher risk of developing antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections compared to all other non-cancer patients. The studies, led by the Cancer and AMR Consortium, which includes BD, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), and the AMR Action Fund, found AMR rates among key pathogens were 1 to 3 times higher, and up to 5 times greater with some specific pathogen-source combinations in outpatient cancer patients; and 1.5 to 2 times more likely in hospitalized cancer patients as compared to non-cancer patients.
Studies examined data on more than 1.6 million bacterial isolates collected from 198 outpatient facilities in the U.S. and more than 4.6 million admissions across 168 U.S. hospitals.
Together, the two studies, which are understood to be the first large, multi-center studies to quantify AMR among cancer patients in the U.S., offer some of the strongest evidence to date that superbugs pose a substantial risk to cancer patients across a variety of settings.