PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Almoosa, Zainab AU - Ahmed, Gasmelseed Y. AU - Omran, Abeer AU - AlSarheed, Ayah AU - Alturki, Afnan AU - Alaqeel, Abdulaziz AU - Alshehri, Mohammed AU - Alfawaz, Tariq AU - Alshahrani, Dayel TI - Invasive Candidiasis in pediatric patients at King Fahad Medical City in Central Saudi Arabia AID - 10.15537/smj.2017.11.21116 DP - 2017 Nov 01 TA - Saudi Medical Journal PG - 1118--1124 VI - 38 IP - 11 4099 - http://smj.org.sa/content/38/11/1118.short 4100 - http://smj.org.sa/content/38/11/1118.full SO - Saudi Med J2017 Nov 01; 38 AB - Objectives: To identify predisposing factors, species distribution, antifungal susceptibility, and outcome.Methods: This study is a retrospective chart review that was conducted at a children’s hospital at King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One hundred twenty-nine children with invasive candidiasis who were admitted between January 2010 and January 2015.Results: The statistical analysis results have revealed a group of risk factors; prematurity in 37 (28.7%) of patients, low birth weight in 42 (32.6%), central venous catheter in 59 (45.7%), malignancy in 21 (16.3%), immunotherapy in 20 (15.5%), and ventilator support in 60 (46.5%). More than 2-fold mortality rate in patients who had heart vegetation (odds ratio [OR]: 2.9) and patients who had Candida isolated from their blood were more than twice as likely to die as patients with Candida isolated from other sites (OR: 2.2). A total of 48.3% of patients on ventilator died versus 26.1% who were not on ventilator (p=0.009); and 43.8% of patients in the ICU died versus only 24.5% of patients who were not in the ICU (p=0.03). Candida parapsilosis exhibited the highest mortality rate (56.2%).Conclusion: Candida albicans is the most common isolate among all Candida species. Gender, low birth weight, prolonged ICU stay, presence of vegetation, positive blood culture, and mechanical ventilation as a strong predictive risk factors for death in children with invasive candidiasis, a finding that could be applied as prophylactic indicator in critically ill children especially neonates.