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Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, and its incidence has been on the rise in immunosuppressed patients without HIV. We performed a cross sectional study in… Click to show full abstract
Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, and its incidence has been on the rise in immunosuppressed patients without HIV. We performed a cross sectional study in patients with PCP and assessed demographic, clinical presentation and outcome measures such as mechanical ventilation and mortality differences between HIV and non-HIV patients. The two groups were statistically significantly different, with the HIV group being younger (45.5 years vs 55.9 years, p-value 0.001) and mostly composed of male patients (69% vs 31%, p-value <0.001). Also, the HIV patients had higher percentage of respiratory complaints (90% vs 68%, p-value 0.02) and lactate dehydrogenase elevation (73% vs 40%, p-value 0.001). In contrast, non-HIV patients had worse outcomes with higher incidence of invasive mechanical ventilation (23% vs 46%, p-value 0.005) and in-hospital mortality (13% vs 37%, p-value 0.002). These results reflect the literature and should raise awareness to a potentially fatal medical situation of increasing incidence.