Evaluation of clinical outcomes of anidulafungin for the treatment of candidemia in hospitalized critically ill patients with obesity: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study

Objectives

To evaluate the clinical outcomes of anidulafungin for candidemia treatment in critically ill patients with obesity.

Methods

A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted in Saudi Arabia for critically ill adults with candidemia who received anidulafungin. Patients with obesity have a body mass index ≥30 kg/m². The primary outcome was the clinical cure rate.

Results

A total of 146 patients were included, 64 of whom were obese. There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical cure rate (P = 0.63), microbiological cure rate (P = 0.27), or the median time for a clinical cure (P = 0.13) for patients with obesity compared to non-obese patients. The median time for a microbiological cure was longer in non-obese patients than in patients with obesity (P = 0.04). The median hospital length of stay and the median mechanical ventilation durations were numerically longer in patients with obesity.

Conclusions

Clinical and microbiological cure rates and time for clinical cure were statistically similar for both groups. Considering the study's limitations (especially with a small sample size), it is uncertain if patients with obesity have similar effectiveness to non-obese patients. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to evaluate if obesity negatively impacts anidulafungin's clinical outcomes for candidemia.