New research reveals that COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) affects 0.4%–2.7% of severe COVID-19 patients in Japan.
In a recent study published in Mycoses , researchers from Japan investigated the incidence and risk factors for COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) in severe and critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. They found that the incidence of CAPA ranged from 0.4% to 2.
7%, and CAPA was associated with increased mortality in these patients. They further identified several risk factors associated with CAPA, including age, gender, chronic lung disease, and immunosuppressant and steroid use. Background CAPA is a serious complication of COVID-19, with reported incidence rates ranging from 3.
8% to 35%, depending on country, medication use, and study methods. In Japan, smaller studies have reported varying incidence rates: 4.1% in a single-center study by Ogawa et al.
and 0.54% in a country-wide survey by Takazono et al. However, these studies had limitations, including facility bias and underreporting.
COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis is a fungal infection that occurs as a complication in some patients with severe or critical COVID-19. It is caused by the fungus Aspergillus, which can invade the lungs, particularly when a person's immune system is weakened due to severe viral infections like COVID-19. To better understand CAPA's epidemiology in Japan, a larger, more reliable study using data from the Diagnosis Proced.