Increased incidence of candidemia in critically ill patients during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Braz J Infect Dis
; 26(2): 102353, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1803608
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Patients with severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are treated with corticosteroids.AIM:
We aimed to evaluate the role of corticosteroid treatment in candidemia development during the COVID-19 pandemic.METHODS:
This retrospective study was conducted in a Greek ICU, from 2010 to August 2021, encompassing a pre-pandemic and a pandemic period (pandemic period April 2020 to August 2021). All adult patients with candidemia were included.RESULTS:
During the study period, 3,572 patients were admitted to the ICU, 339 patients during the pandemic period, of whom 196 were SARS-CoV-2-positive. In total, 281 candidemia episodes were observed in 239 patients, 114 in the pandemic period. The majority of candidemias in both periods were catheter-related (161; 50.4%). The incidence of candidemia in the pre-pandemic period was 5.2 episodes per 100 admissions, while in the pandemic period was 33.6 (p < 0.001). In the pandemic period, the incidence among COVID-19 patients was 38.8 episodes per 100 admissions, while in patients without COVID-19 incidence was 26.6 (p = 0.019). Corticosteroid administration in both periods was not associated with increased candidemia incidence.CONCLUSIONS:
A significant increase of candidemia incidence was observed during the pandemic period in patients with and without COVID-19. This increase cannot be solely attributed to immunosuppression (corticosteroids, tocilizumab) of severe COVID-19 patients, but also to increased workload of medical and nursing staff.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Candidemia
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Braz J Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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