Epidemiology of Candidemia Rates during COVID-19 and Comparison of Outcomes in Candidemia between COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 Patients

ABSTRACT

Background. Fungemia is associated with high rates of morbidity, mortality and increase in length of hospital stay. Several studies have recognized increased rates of candidemia since the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary healthcare system in Detroit, Michigan to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence of candidemia. The "pre COVID-19" timeframe was defined as January - May 2019 while the "during COVID-19" timeframe was January - May 2020. To compare incidence and patient characteristics between cohorts, t-tests and chi-square analysis was used. Additional sub-analysis was performed in candidemia patients during COVID-19 timeframe comparing outcomes of patients based on COVID-19 status. A Fisher Exact and Satterthwaite Test were used for analysis of categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Results. Overall, 46 cases of candidemia were identified in both the pre COVID-19 and during COVID-19 periods. Pre COVID-19, the average number of cases was 3.0 ± 1.2 per month. The incidence more than doubled during COVID-19 to 6.2 ± 4.2 cases per month (p = 0.14) (Figure 1). No significant differences in patient demographics were detected between cohorts, however, patients in the COVID-19 cohort had higher rates of corticosteroid use, mechanical ventilation and vasopressors (Table 1). In the 2020 period, 31 patients developed candidemia and 12 (38.7%) patients tested SARS-CoV-2 positive. On average, COVID-19 patients developed candidemia 12.1 days from admission, compared to 17.8 days in the COVID-19 negative cohort (p = 0.340). Additionally, COVID-19 patients with candidemia coinfection were significantly more likely to expire;83.3% (n=10) COVID-19 patients expired compared to 36.8 (n=7) in the COVID-19 negative cohort (p = 0.025) (Table 2). Conclusion. The prevalence of fungemia markedly increased during the COVID-19 surge. Increased use of corticosteroids and broad spectrum antimicrobials, prolonged use of central venous catheters and prolonged ICU length of stay likely contributed to this increase. Patients who developed candidemia co-infection with COVID-19 were found to have poorer outcomes as compared to those who were SARS-CoV-2 negative or untested.