OBJECTIVE To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors for invasive Candida infections in a hospital so as to provide bases for early diagnosis and reasonable use of antifungal agents.

METHODS The invasive Candida strains were collected from Hebei Yanda Hospital from 2020 to 2024, the species of Candida strains and drug resistance were observed. The strains were reexamined by Vitek mass spectrometry (MS). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 9 types of antifungal agents were determined by using fungal susceptibility plate. Patients were divided into the survival group with 73 cases and the death group with 28 cases based on the discharged pattern shown on the first page of medical record. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed for risk factors for the prognosis of the patients.

RESULTS Totally 101 strains of invasive Candida were collected. The isolation rate of Candida albicans was highest (43 strains, 42.57%), followed by Candida parapsilosis complex (24.75%), Candida tropicalis (16.83%) and Candida glabrata (10.89%); the accurate rate of reexamination for identification of the strains reached up to 88.12% (89/101). Among the isolated invasive Candida strains, 79 (78.22%) were isolated from blood specimens, and 45 (44.55%) were isolated from internal medicine system. The drug resistance rates of the C. albicans strains to the 9 types of drugs were less than 5%. Univariate analysis showed that the death was associated with the more than 65 years of age, septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, treatment in ICU, urinary catheter indwelling and endotracheal intubation(P < 0.05). The result of multivariate analysis indicated that the septic shock (OR=16.528) and ICU stay (OR=7.688)were the risk factors for death of the patients(P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS The patients with C. albicans infection are dominant among the patients with invasive Candida infections, and the C. albicans has high antimicrobial activity. The septic shock and ICU stay are the risk factors affecting the mortality of the patients with invasive Candida infections.