Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients and diagnostics
| Non-IAA (n = 72) | IAA (n = 9) | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics of patients | |||
| Age (year, median, (iqr)) | 68 (58.0, 75.2) | 58 (57.0, 64.0) | 0.21 |
| Female sex (%) | 35 (48.6) | 3 (33) | 0.49 |
| SAPS II (median, (iqr)) | 42.5 (39.0, 66.0) | 44 (39.0, 66.0) | 0.5 |
| Influenza A (%) | 32 (44.4) | 5 (55.6) | 0.73 |
| COPD (%) | 25 (34.7) | 2 (22.2) | 0.71 |
| Bronchial asthma (%) | 3 (4.1) | 2 (22.2) | 0.09 |
| Any immunosuppressive condition* (%) | 15 (20.8) | 1 (11.1) | 0.86 |
| Haematologic malignancy (%) | 8 (11.3) | 0 | 0.59 |
| Solid cancer (%) | 4 (5.6) | 1 (11.1) | 0.45 |
| Immunosuppressive drugs (%) | 12 (16.7) | 0 | 0.34 |
| Neutropenia at influenza diagnosis (%) | 1 (1.4) | 0 | 1 |
| Lymphopenia at influenza diagnosis (%) | 43 (59.7) | 7 (77.8) | 0.47 |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 18 (25.0) | 3 (33.3) | 0.43 |
| Renal failure (%) | 16 (22.2) | 3 (33.3) | 0.43 |
| Cardiovascular disease (%) | 29 (40.3) | 3 (33.3) | 1 |
| Other comorbidities (%) | 31 (43.1) | 2 (22.2) | 0.29 |
| No known comorbidities (%) | 7 (9.7) | 1 (11.1) | 1 |
| Diagnostics | |||
| GM measured serum/BAL (%) | 5/17 (26.4**) | 6/8 (88.9***) | < 0.001 |
| Elevated GM in serum (% of GM) | 1 (20) | 2 (33.3) | 0.70 |
| Elevated GM in BAL (% of GM) | 0 | 5 (62.5) | < 0.001 |
| Cultural evidence of Aspergillus spp. in BAL, TA or sputum (%) | 0 | 8 (88.9) | < 0.001 |
| Histopathological evidence of aspergillosis | - | 1 (11.1) | - |
| Findings on CXR or CT scan (%) | |||
| No infiltrate | 15 (20.9) | 0 | 0.28 |
| Unilateral infiltrate | 10 (13.9) | 2 (22.2) | 0.80 |
| Bilateral infiltrates | 40 (55.6) | 6 (66.7) | 0.79 |
| Nodules | 5 (6.9) | 4 (44.4) | 0.01 |
y years, iqr interquartile range, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, IAA influenza-associated aspergillosis, Non-IAA influenza infection without aspergillosis, GM galactomannan, BAL bronchoalveolar lavage, TA tracheal aspirate
SAPS II simplified acute physiology score, estimates mortality in ICU patients [9]. Neutropenia is neutrophil count ≤ 0.5 G/l and lymphopenia is lymphocyte count ≤ 1 G/l
*Any immunosuppressive condition included solid organ or haematologic stem cell transplantation, haematologic malignancy or any immunosuppressive drugs including corticosteroids before diagnosis of influenza
**Total of 19 patients with GM measured (3 cases had GM measured in BAL (cut-off, optical density (OD) ≥ 1.0) and serum (cut-off, OD ≥ 0.5 [26])
***Total of 8 patients (6 cases had GM measured in BAL and serum)