Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013:8:1199-208.
doi: 10.2147/CIA.S39120. Epub 2013 Sep 9.

Treatment of invasive candidiasis in the elderly: a review

Aikaterini Flevari  1 , Maria Theodorakopoulou, Aristea Velegraki, Apostolos Armaganidis, George Dimopoulos
Affiliations

Treatment of invasive candidiasis in the elderly: a review

Aikaterini Flevari et al. Clin Interv Aging. 2013.

Abstract

Fungi are major causes of infections among immunocompromised or hospitalized patients with serious underlying diseases and comorbidities. Candida species remain the most important cause of opportunistic infections worldwide, affecting predominantly patients over 65 years old, while they are considered to be the fourth most common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections. The rapidly growing elderly population has specific physiological characteristics, which makes it susceptible to colonization and subsequent infection due to Candida species. Comorbidities and multidrug use should be taken into account any time the therapeutic regimen is under consideration. Different classes of antifungal drugs are available for the treatment of invasive fungal infections but echinocandins, apart from their activity against resistant strains (Candida glabrata and Candida krusei), seem to be safe, with limited adverse events and minimal drug-drug interactions in comparison to the other regimens. Therefore, these agents are strongly recommended when dealing with elderly patients suffering from an invasive form of Candida infection.

Keywords: elderly patients; emerging fungal infections; treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Algorithm for the management of candidiasis in the elderly patient. Note: *Although there are recent data suggesting that success rates of treating C. parapsilosis were similar for the echinocandin group versus other antifungal treatment groups. Adapted from Journal of Critical Care, Dimopoulos G, Antonopoulou A, Armaganidis A, Vincent JL. How to select an antifungal agent in critically-ill patients. In press. Copyright 2013, with permission from Elsevier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Kullberg BJ, Verweij PE, Akova M, et al. European expert opinion on the management of invasive candidiasis in adults. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011;17(Suppl 5):S1–S12. - PubMed
    1. Pappas PG, Rex JH, Lee J, et al. A prospective observational study of candidemia: epidemiology, therapy and influences on mortality in hospitalized adult and pediatric patients. Clin Infect Dis. 2003;37:634–643. - PubMed
    1. Tortorano AM, Peman J, Bernhardt H, et al. ECMM Working Group on Candidaemia Epidemiology of candidaemia in Europe: results of 28-month European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM) in hospital based surveillance study. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2004;23:317–322. - PubMed
    1. Guery BP, Arendrup MC, Auzinger G, et al. Management of invasive candidiasis and candidemia in adult non-neutropenic intensive care unit patients: Part I. Epidemiology and diagnosis. Intensive Care Med. 2009;35:55–62. - PubMed
    1. Kauffman C. Fungal infections in older adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33:550–555. - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources