Table 1 Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics, admission diagnosis, treatment-related variables and microbiological findings in critically ill patients with laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection with Candida spp. Continuous variables are given as median (1st to 3rd quantile), categorical variables are given as n (%)
|  | Study participants n = 391 | Non-survivors n = 234 | Survivors n = 157 | Descriptive p-value (unadjusted)a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Demographics | ||||
 Age (years) | 65 (56–74) | 65 (57–73) | 65 (53–74) | 0.614 |
 Male gender | 240 (61) | 151 (65) | 89 (57) | 0.138 |
Comorbid conditions on admission | ||||
 Coronary heart disease | 100 (26) | 63 (27) | 37 (24) | 0.480 |
 Diabetes mellitus | 99 (25) | 62 (27) | 37 (24) | 0.554 |
 COPD | 57 (15) | 31 (13) | 26 (17) | 0.383 |
 Liver cirrhosis | 70 (18) | 56 (24) | 14 (9) |  < 0.001 |
 Chronic kidney disease | 205 (52) | 129 (55) | 76 (48) | 0.216 |
 Hematologic malignancy | 28 (7) | 22 (9) | 6 (4) | 0.045 |
 Solid tumor | 139 (36) | 82 (35) | 57 (36) | 0.830 |
 Implantable cardiac devices | 32 (22) | 21 (23) | 11 (20) | 0.837 |
 Stem cell transplantation | 5 (1) | 4 (2) | 1 (1) | 0.355 |
 Human immunodeficiency virus | 0 (0) | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | 0.245 |
 Solid organ transplantation | 22 (6) | 13 (6) | 9 (6) | 0.941 |
Admission diagnosis | Â | Â | Â | 0.041 |
 Medical | 175 (45) | 116 (50) | 59 (38) |  |
 Abdominal surgery | 133 (34) | 76 (33) | 57 (36) |  |
 Surgery other than abdominal | 83 (21) | 42 (18) | 41 (26) |  |
ICU stay | ||||
 Arterial catheter | 363 (93) | 216 (92) | 147 (94) | 0.619 |
 Mechanical ventilation | 362 (93) | 218 (93) | 144 (92) | 0.594 |
 Red blood cell transfusion | 2 (0–7) | 3 (0–9) | 2 (0–6) | 0.056 |
 SAPS II scoreb | 44 (35–53) | 48 (40–57) | 36 (31–47) |  < 0.001 |
 SOFA scoreb | 8 (5–11) | 10 (7–12) | 6 (3–9) |  < 0.001 |
 Candida scoreb | 3 (2–4) | 3 (2–4) | 2 (1–4) |  < 0.001 |
 Sepsis | 287 (73) | 198 (85) | 89 (57) |  < 0.001 |
 Septic shock | 151 (39) | 128 (55) | 23 (15) |  < 0.001 |
 Extracorporeal organ support before culture positivity | 182 (47) | 129 (55) | 53 (34) |  < 0.001 |
   After culture positivity | 210 (54) | 156 (68) | 54 (34) |  < 0.001 |
ICU length of stay (days) | 28 (15–51) | 25 (13–48) | 33 (21–54) | 0.003 |
   Before culture positivity | 12 (5–23) | 12 (5–23) | 13 (5–23) | 0.638 |
Hospital length of stay (days) | 37 (22–66) | 30 (16–58) | 50 (33–72) |  < 0.001 |
   Before culture positivity | 15 (8–30) | 16 (8–31) | 14 (8–29) | 0.428 |
Inflammatory parameters at culture positivity | ||||
 White blood cell count (109/l) | 13 (9–20) | 14 (2–22) | 12 (9–16) | 0.005 |
 Procalcitonin (µg/l) | 2 (1–7) | 3 (1–7) | 2 (1–8) | 0.042 |
 C-reactive protein (mg/dl) | 124 (71–189) | 129 (71–193) | 121 (68–187) | 0.682 |
 Lactate (mmol/l) | 2 (1–4) | 3 (2- 5) | 2(1–2) |  < 0.001 |
Central venous catheter (CVC) | ||||
 Number of CVCs per patient | 5 (3–8) | 5 (3–8) | 5 (3–9) | 0.232 |
 CVC overall time in place (hours) | 726 (326–1432) | 698 (306–1400) | 772 (344–1443) | 0.710 |
 Max. time in place per CVC (hours) | 242 (162–308) | 230 (156–308) | 257 (188–308) | 0.204 |
 Min. time in place per CVC (hours) | 43 (15–87) | 38 (12–68) | 61 (18–99) | 0.001 |
 Mean time in place per CVC (hours) | 141 (101–176) | 135(94–168) | 157 (109–190) | 0.009 |
 Time in place per CVC before first Candida finding (hours) | 232(19–563) | 237 (30–627) | 223 (6–535) | 0.444 |
Microbiological findings | ||||
 Candida albicans | 238 (61) | 135 (58) | 103 (66) | 0.116 |
 Candida non-albicans species | 153 (39) | 99 (42) | 54 (34) | |
 Gram-positive bacteremia | 155 (40) | 85 (37) | 70 (45) | 0.109 |
 Gram-negative bacteremia | 38 (10) | 19 (8) | 19 (12) | 0.193 |