Incidence, risk factors and pre-emptive screening for COVID-19 associated pulmonary aspergillosis in an era of immunomodulant therapy.
J Crit Care 2023;
76:154272. [PMID:
36801598 PMCID:
PMC9934852 DOI:
10.1016/j.jcrc.2023.154272]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE
COVID-19 associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in ICU patients. We investigated the incidence of, risk factors for and potential benefit of a pre-emptive screening strategy for CAPA in ICUs in the Netherlands/Belgium during immunosuppressive COVID-19 treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective, observational, multicentre study was performed from September 2020-April 2021 including patients admitted to the ICU who had undergone diagnostics for CAPA. Patients were classified based on 2020 ECMM/ISHAM consensus criteria.
RESULTS
CAPA was diagnosed in 295/1977 (14.9%) patients. Corticosteroids were administered to 97.1% of patients and interleukin-6 inhibitors (anti-IL-6) to 23.5%. EORTC/MSGERC host factors or treatment with anti-IL-6 with or without corticosteroids were not risk factors for CAPA. Ninety-day mortality was 65.3% (145/222) in patients with CAPA compared to 53.7% (176/328) without CAPA (p = 0.008). Median time from ICU admission to CAPA diagnosis was 12 days. Pre-emptive screening for CAPA was not associated with earlier diagnosis or reduced mortality compared to a reactive diagnostic strategy.
CONCLUSIONS
CAPA is an indicator of a protracted course of a COVID-19 infection. No benefit of pre-emptive screening was observed, but prospective studies comparing pre-defined strategies would be required to confirm this observation.
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