Candidemia incidence in recipients of parenteral nutrition

The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of candidemia in recipients of parenteral nutrition (PN) in a tertiary medical center with disease-specific guidelines for appropriate PN use.

A retrospective, medical record/database review was conducted for adult patients who received PN in a 473-bed medical center from January 2006 to October 2008. Patients receiving PN >72 hours with no recent history of fungemia or concomitant antifungal therapy were evaluated for candidemia incidence with special interest in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Epidemiological and clinical factors promoting candidemia development, pattern of systemic antifungal therapy use, and patient outcomes were investigated.

Of 286 PN recipients, 14 (4.9%) patients were diagnosed with new-onset candidemia, with an incidence rate of 1.6 episodes per 1000 hospital-days. In the subgroup of 177 ICU patients, 11 (6.2%) patients developed candidemia, with an incidence rate of 2.4 episodes per 1000 ICU-days. PN duration was significantly longer in the candidemia group, with a median of 17 (4-53) days compared with 8 (4-124) days in the noncandidemia group (P = .013). Severity of illness was defined as major to extreme in 83.5% of patients. Hospital mortality in the candidemia group was greater than in the noncandidemia group (35.7% vs 16.2%, P = .058).

Guidelines for PN therapy appropriately limit unnecessary use of PN but also select out severely ill patients who are at high risk for the development of candidemia. This study generates questions for future studies, including the benefits of empirical antifungal therapy in high-risk PN recipients.