Comparison of Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Outcome Between Localized and Disseminated Nocardiosis in a Tertiary Hospital in China.

Background: In China, due to the large population, infections caused by Nocardia may not be as rare. Unfortunately, there is still inadequate knowledge of the clinical impact caused by Nocardia. This study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and treatment of localized and disseminated nocardiosis.

Methods: The clinical and microbiological data of patients diagnosed with nocardiosis in a tertiary hospital in Beijing from July 2011 to July 2021 were collected and retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Among the 54 nocardiosis cases, 34 cases were in the localized infection group, while 20 cases in the disseminated infection group. The proportion of patients with chronic structural lung disease was higher in the localized group (=0.010). In contrast, patients with disseminated infections were more prone to receive long-term glucocorticoids and/or immunosuppressants (=0.027). Pulmonary nodules were prominent features of imaging changes in patients with disseminated infections (=0.027) whereas bronchial dilatation was more common in patients with localized infections (=0.025). In addition, the disseminated group had longer average hospitalization days relative to the localized group (=0.016), but there was no significant difference in mortality between them (=0.942).

Conclusion: There were differences in the clinical profiles between patients with localized and disseminated nocardiosis in terms of clinical presentation, infection site, radiological features, treatment, and prognosis. These findings may provide references for the management and treatment of patients with nocardiosis.