Objective: Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is the most common filamentous fungal infection observed in immunocompromised patients. The incidence of invasive aspergillosis has increased significantly in recent decades in parallel with the increasing number and improved survival of immunocompromised patients. IA in adults has been well characterized; however, only a few small studies of IA in children have been reported. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe the incidence and outcomes of children with IA.
Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using the 2000 Kids Inpatient Database, a national database of hospital inpatient stays during 2000. IA was defined as aspergillosis that occurred in a child with malignancy (solid tumor, leukemia, or lymphoma), hematologic/immunologic deficiency, or transplant (bone marrow or solid organ). Discharge weighting was applied to the data to obtain nationally representative estimates of disease.
Results: During 2000, there were an estimated 666 pediatric cases of IA among 152,231 immunocompromised children, yielding an annual incidence of 437/100,000 (0.4%) among hospitalized immunocompromised children. Children with malignancy accounted for the majority (74%) of cases of IA. The highest incidence of IA was seen in children who had undergone allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (4.5%) and those with acute myelogenous leukemia (4%). The overall in-hospital mortality of immunocompromised children with IA was 18%. Children with malignancy and IA were at higher risk for death than children with malignancy and without IA. Pediatric patients with IA had a significantly longer median length of hospital stay (16 days) than immunocompromised children without IA (3 days). The median total hospital charges for patients with IA were $49309 compared with immunocompromised children without IA ($9035).
Conclusions: The impact of IA on increases in mortality, length of hospital stay, and the burden of cost in the hospital setting underscores the need for improved means of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of IA in immunocompromised children.