Clinical Features, Strain Distribution, Antifungal Resistance and Prognosis of Patients with Non -albicans Candidemia: A Retrospective Observational Study

Fengqi Liu; Li Zhong; Feifei Zhou; Cheng Zheng; Kai Zhang; Jiachang Cai; Hongwei Zhou; Kankai Tang; Zhaohui Dong; Wei Cui; Gensheng Zhang

doi:10.2147/IDR.S323583

Clinical Features, Strain Distribution, Antifungal Resistance and Prognosis of Patients with Non -albicans Candidemia: A Retrospective Observational Study

Infect Drug Resist. 2021 Aug 17:14:3233-3246. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S323583. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Fengqi Liu^#^{1

2}, Li Zhong^#^{1

2}, Feifei Zhou^#³, Cheng Zheng^{1

4}, Kai Zhang¹, Jiachang Cai⁵, Hongwei Zhou⁵, Kankai Tang², Zhaohui Dong², Wei Cui¹, Gensheng Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Critical Care Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Huzhou Teachers College, The First People's Hospital of Huzhou, Huzhou, 313000, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Ningbo Medical Center, Li Huili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315040, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, 318000, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310009, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: Candida albicans (C. albicans) candidemia has been well reported in previous studies, while research on non-albicans Candida (NAC) bloodstream infections remains poorly explored. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with NAC candidemia.

Patients and methods: We recruited inpatients with candidemia from January 2013 to June 2020 in a tertiary hospital for this retrospective observational study.

Results: A total of 301 patients with candidemia were recruited in the current study, including 161 (53.5%) patients with NAC candidemia. The main pathogens in NAC candidemia were Candida tropicalis (C. tropicalis) (23.9%), Candida parapsilosis (15.6%) and Candida glabrata (10.3%). Patients with NAC candidemia had more medical admissions (P=0.034), a higher percentage of hematological malignancies (P=0.007), a higher frequency of antifungal exposure (P=0.012), and more indwelling peripherally inserted central catheters (P=0.002) than those with C. albicans candidemia. In a multivariable analysis, prior antifungal exposure was independently related to NAC candidemia (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.312; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.113-0.859). Additionally, NAC was obviously resistant to azoles, especially C. tropicalis had a high cross-resistance to azoles. However, no significant differences were noted in the mortality rates at 14 days, 28 days and 60 days between these two groups.

Conclusion: NAC is dominant in candidemia, and prior antifungal exposure is an independent risk factor. Of note, although the outcomes of NAC and C. albicans candidemia are similar, drug resistance to specific azoles as well as cross-resistance frequently occurs in patients with NAC candidemia, and this drug resistance deserves attention in clinical practice and further in-depth investigation.

Keywords: clinical features; cross-resistance; non-albicans candidemia; risk factor.

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by grants from National Natural Science Foundations of China (No. 81971871, GS Zhang), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LY19H150007, GS Zhang), and Medical and Health Research Program of Zhejiang Province (No. 2021KY174, GS Zhang).