Candida tropicalis fungaemia: incidence, risk factors and mortality in a general hospital

Abstract The risk factors and clinical features of patients with Candida tropicalis fungaemia have not been fully defined. We performed a case–control study comparing 59 cases of C. tropicalis fungaemia with 177 episodes of fungaemia caused by other species of Candida in our hospital over a 24-year period (January 1985 to December 2008). Patients with C. tropicalis fungaemia were more likely to be older (median age, 67 vs. 56 years; p 0.01), to have cancer (45.5% vs. 31.6%, p 0.04), and to have the abdomen as the portal of entry (32.2% vs. 11.9%, p 0.001), and had a higher in-hospital mortality rate (61% vs. 44%, p 0.03). Multivariate analysis showed that the independent risk factors for C. tropicalis fungaemia were cancer (OR 4.5; 95% CI 1.05–3.83; p 0.03) and the abdomen as the portal of entry (OR 13.6; 95% CI 1.9–8.2; p C. tropicalis is the fourth most common cause of fungaemia in our hospital. It is associated with underlying malignancy, the abdomen as the portal of entry, and poor outcome.