Appropriate use of antifungals: impact of an antifungal stewardship program on the clinical outcome of candidaemia in a French University Hospital

ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of patients with candidaemia before and after implementation of an antifungal stewardship program (AFSP).MethodsThis study included all consecutive cases of candidaemia identified from January 2012 to December 2015 in a French University Hospital. Data were collected retrospectively for a period of 2years before implementation of the AFSP, and prospectively for 2years after. All cases were reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel of experts including infectiologists, a microbiologist and pharmacists to have a complete follow-up of patients.Results33 and 37 patients were finally included in the first and second period, respectively. The sites of entry of the candidaemia cases studied were as follows: intraabdominal in 29 cases (41.4%), central venous catheter 21 (30.0%), other or unknown: 20 (28.6%). Infectiologist consultations increased from 36.4 to 86.5% between the two periods with a significative impact on daily blood cultures which were more frequently performed in the second period (p=0.04), and the use of echinocandins which was more frequent in the second period (97.1% of cases vs 78.8%, p=0.03). The 3-month mortality rate declined from 36.4% in the first period to 27.0% in the second period (p=0.4).ConclusionsDespite the insufficient number of candidaemia cases and the presence of other unmodifiable risk factors of mortality which did not allow us to show a significant effect on the 3-month mortality, AFSP had a significant effect on daily blood cultures and echinocandin use as first-line therapy.