Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiology of nosocomial candidemia and identify risk factors involved in infections caused by non-C. albicans Candida species in a Chinese tertiary care center over a 10-year period. A total of 102 cases of nosocomial candidemia in non-neutropenic patients admitted from 1998 through 2007 were included in the study. Candida albicans remained the most common causative agent, accounting for 57.8% of all cases, followed by C. tropicalis (12.8%), C. parapsilosis (10.8%) and C. glabrata (10.8%). Comparison of C. albicans and non-C. albicans candidemia by multivariate logistic regression showed that factors independently associated with non-C. albicans candidemia included head trauma (OR, 5.34; 95% CI, 1.18–24.17; P = 0.029) and bacterial sepsis (OR, 3.58; 95% CI, 1.17–10.98; P = 0.026). Factors independently associated with C. albicans candidemia included tracheal intubation (OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.08–0.92; P = 0.037), and increased peripheral WBC count (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.74–0.95; P = 0.006).
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grant no. 36416 of the Investigator-Initiated Studies Program (IISP) from Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
This paper was first published online on Early Online on 13 December 2010.