Prevalence of secondary infections and association with mortality rates of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND

ICU and other patients hospitalized with corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are more susceptible to secondary infections. Undetected secondary infections tend to have a severe clinical impact, associated with prolonged hospitalization and higher rates of inpatient mortality.

OBJECTIVES

Estimate the prevalence of secondary infections, determine the frequency of microbial species detected at different body sites, and measure the association between secondary infections and outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional analytical study.

SETTING

Tertiary care center in Riyadh PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected through retrospective chart review of hospitalized COVID-19 patients >18 years old from March 2020 until May 2022 at King Saud University Medical City (27 months). Rates of secondary infections among hospitalized COVID-19 patients were described and data on clinical outcomes (intensive care admission, invasive management procedures and mortality) was collected.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Features and rates of infection and mortality.

SAMPLE SIZE

260 RESULTS: In total, 24.2% of the study population had secondary infections. However, only 68.8% of patients had secondary infection testing, from which 35.2% had a confirmed secondary infection. These patients had a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (<.0001) and cardiovascular diseases (=.001). The odds of ICU admissions (63.3%) among secondarily infected patients was 8.4 times higher compared to patients with only COVID-19 infection (17.3%). Secondarily infected patients were more likely to receive invasive procedures (OR=5.068) and had a longer duration of hospital stay compared to COVID-19 only patients. Overall mortality was 16.2%, with a predominantly higher proportion among those secondarily infected (47.6% vs 6.1%) (OR=14.015). Bacteria were the most commonly isolated organisms, primarily from blood (23.3%), followed by fungal isolates, which were mostly detected in urine (17.2%). The most detected organism was (17.2%), followed by (9.2%), (9.2%) and (9.2%).

CONCLUSION

Secondary infections were prevalent among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Secondarily infected patients had longer hospital stay, higher odds of ICU admission, mortality, and invasive procedures.

LIMITATION

Single-center study, retrospective design and small sample size.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None.