{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"medRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T20:51:43Z","timestamp":1773694303594,"version":"3.50.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]]},"group-title":"Infectious Diseases (except HIV\/AIDS)","reference-count":0,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]],"date-time":"2024-10-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1728604800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Purpose: A new category of systemic co-infections that emerged with the COVID-19 pandemic is known as COVID-19-associated (CA) fungal infections, which include pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA), candidiasis (CAC), and mucormycosis (CAM). We aimed to study the association between patient characteristics of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, COVID-19 comorbidities, and COVID-19 therapies with secondary non-superficial fungal infections. Methods: We performed descriptive and regression analyses of data from 4,999 hospitalized COVID-19 patients from the University of Kentucky Healthcare (UKHC) system. Results: The patients with secondary systemic fungal infections had a 6-fold higher risk of death than those without such infections. Generally, the risk factors for severe COVID-19 (age, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and lack of COVID-19 vaccination) were strong predictors of a secondary fungal infection. However, several characteristics had much higher risks, suggesting that a causative link may be at play: ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, length of hospital stay, and steroid use. Conclusions: In sum, this study found that the known risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease, age, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, ventilation, and high steroid doses were all predictors of a secondary fungal infection. Steroid therapy may need to be modified to account for a risk or a presence of a fungal infection in vulnerable patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1101\/2024.10.10.24315254","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]],"date-time":"2024-10-11T13:40:21Z","timestamp":1728654021000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Association of COVID-19 risk factors with systemic fungal infections in hospitalized patients"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-2658-0695","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abbygail C","family":"Wilbourn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7094-4216","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oleg V","family":"Tsodikov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7961-5555","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sylvie","family":"Garneau-Tsodikova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"54368","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1101\/2024.10.10.24315254","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,15]],"date-time":"2026-01-15T20:14:30Z","timestamp":1768508070000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/medrxiv.org\/lookup\/doi\/10.1101\/2024.10.10.24315254"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1101\/2024.10.10.24315254","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,11]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}