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Review
. 2023 Jun 20;9(6):689.
doi: 10.3390/jof9060689.

Mortality in ICU Patients with COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Anna Beltrame  1 , David A Stevens  2   3 , Donna Haiduven  1
Affiliations
Review

Mortality in ICU Patients with COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Anna Beltrame et al. J Fungi (Basel). .

Abstract

A review of 38 studies involving 1437 COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) with pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) was conducted to investigate whether mortality has improved since the pandemic's onset. The study found that the median ICU mortality was 56.8%, ranging from 30% to 91.8%. These rates were higher for patients admitted during 2020-2021 (61.4%) compared to 2020 (52.3%), and prospective studies found higher ICU mortality (64.7%) than retrospective ones (56.4%). The studies were conducted in various countries and used different criteria to define CAPA. The percentage of patients who received antifungal therapy varied across studies. These results indicate that the mortality rate among CAPA patients is a growing concern, mainly since there has been an overall reduction in mortality among COVID-19 patients. Urgent action is needed to improve prevention and management strategies for CAPA, and additional research is needed to identify optimal treatment strategies to reduce mortality rates among these patients. This study serves as a call to action for healthcare professionals and policymakers to prioritize CAPA, a serious and potentially life-threatening complication of COVID-19.

Keywords: CAPA; COVID-19; ICU; SARS-CoV-2; invasive aspergillosis; mortality; outcome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Database searches based on the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall ICU mortality in CAPA patients, stratified by study design and admission year.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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