Trend Analysis of Fungal Infections Based on Culture among Inpatients in Henan Province from 2018 to 2023

With the increasing number of immunocompromised hosts, the epidemiological characteristics of fungal infections have undergone enormous changes worldwide, including in China. The epidemiology of fungal infections is diverse and varies worldwide depending on geography, host immune status, and infection site. Fungal infections continue to be associated with significant morbidity and death rates and with increased financial burdens on the health care system. Therefore, understanding the contemporary epidemiology of fungal infections is important. The medical records of 75,001 inpatients from January 2018 to December 2023 at Henan Provincial Infectious Disease Hospital were analyzed in this retrospective study. A total of 3,550/75001 (4.73%) patients presented increasing fungal infections, predominantly Candida albicans (3.12%), Aspergillus fumigatus (0.59%), and Aspergillus flavus (0.50%) over the years. The detection rate of fungal infections varied across departments in the following order: AIDS (19.26%), ICU (19.04%), Tuberculosis (4.41%), and other non-infectious departments, such as Surgery and Oncology (1.42%) and Hepatology (0.71%). Compared with urban patients, rural patients (6.79%) had a significantly greater fungal detection rate (3.48%) (χ² = 429.89, p < 0.001), primarily C. albicans, Talaromyces marneffei, Cryptococcus neoformans, and A. flavus. The fungal detection rate among patients with infectious diseases has been increasing annually, with variations in the pathogenic spectra. Therefore, clinical attention is essential for pathogen detection to achieve prompt diagnosis and targeted antifungal treatment.