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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Mar 19;13(6):7745-7757.
doi: 10.18632/aging.202742. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Fungal co-infection in COVID-19 patients: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jingwen Peng  1   2 , Qiong Wang  1   2 , Huan Mei  1   2 , Hailin Zheng  1   2 , Guangzhao Liang  1   2 , Xiaodong She  1   2 , Weida Liu  1   2   3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Fungal co-infection in COVID-19 patients: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jingwen Peng et al. Aging (Albany NY). .

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected tens of millions of people worldwide within the last year. However, the incidence of fungal co-infection in COVID-19 patients remains unclear. To investigate the association between fungal co-infection and mortality due to COVID-19, we systematically searched Medline, Embase, MedRxiv and Cochrane Library for eligible studies published in the period from 1 January to 1 December 2020. We performed a meta-analysis of nine studies that met the inclusion criteria. In total, data from 2780 patients and 426 patients were included who were admitted to the ICU. In eight of the articles, 211 participants died due to COVID-19 infection, which means an overall mortality rate of 10.9%. The overall pooled proportion of fungal co-infection in COVID-19 patients was 0.12 (95% CI = 0.07-0.16, n = 2780, I2 = 96.8%). In terms of mortality in COVID-19 patients with fungal infection, the overall pooled proportion of mortality was 0.17 (95% CI = 0.10-0.24, n = 1944, I2 = 95.6%). These findings provide evidence suggesting a favorable use for empirical antibiotics in the majority of patients when COVID-19 infection is diagnosed. Our analysis is investigating the use of antifungal therapy to treat COVID-19 can serve as a comprehensive reference for COVID-19 treatment.

Keywords: COVID-19; fungal co-infection; meta-analysis; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the study selection process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of fungal infection in COVID-19 patients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of aspergillus infection in COVID-19 patients.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot of mortality in COVID-19 patients with fungal co-infections.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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