Candidaemia: Incidence, risk factors, characteristics and outcomes in immunocompetent critically ill patients

Abstract

A matched case-control study was conducted to determine the risk factors for development of candidaemia in patients requiring intensive-care unit (ICU) treatment for more than 48 h. Patients were matched according to length of ICU stay, age, department of admission, year of admission and sex. Forty-five patients with candidaemia were identified (0.6 cases/ 1000 patient-days). Candidaemia developed mainly in critically ill patients with multiple organ failure and end-stage disease. Candida colonization and gastrointestinal surgery were independently associated with candidaemia. ICU and total in-hospital mortality were 40% and 66.7%, respectively. Candidaemia-related mortality was 20%. Candidaemia treatment failure was the only variable associated with in-hospital mortality (p 0.008). © 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.