Incidence and risk factors of probable and proven invasive fungal infection in adult patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: To investigate the incidence and risk factors for the occurrence of proven or probable invasive fungal infection (IFI) in adult patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 421 patients undergoing HSCT between 2002 and 2013 in our hospital. The risk factors for the occurrence of IFI were analyzed using Cox regression models.

Results: Thirty-one patients with the median age of 42 years (range, 19-60 years) developed IFI after HSCT. The post-HSCT IFI incidence was 7.4% and median time from HSCT to the diagnosis of IFI was 139 days (range, 2-1809 days). Of the pretransplant factors, European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) risk score > 2 (p = 0.001) and prior history of IFI (p = 0.006) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM; p = 0.042) were the significant predictors for post-HSCT IFI in univariate analyses. In multivariate analysis, EBMT risk score > 2 (p = 0.015) and prior history of IFI (p = 0.006) retained significance. Of the post-transplant factors, acute graft-versus-disease (GVHD) overall Grade III-IV (p < 0.001), extensive chronic GVHD (p = 0.002), development of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (p = 0.005), and the use of high-dose steroids (p < 0.001) were statistically significant in univariate analyses. After multivariate analysis, high-dose steroids (p < 0.001) and acute GVHD overall Grade III-IV (p = 0.045) retained significance.

Conclusion: These results suggest that risk group stratification prior to HSCT and monitoring of IFI in patients with severe GVHD receiving high-dose steroids is mandatory to reduce the mortality and morbidity of post-HSCT IFI, especially in those with prior history of IFI.