A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases examined the morbidity and mortality burden of invasive aspergillosis.
Aspergillosis is an infection caused by mold, and invasive aspergillosis complicates care of up to 13 percent of immunocompromised patients in the United States.
Researchers analyzed the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Health Care Utilization Project's data from 2009 to 2013. They compared characteristics and outcomes between patients with invasive aspergillosis and those without.
Of the 66.6 million patients included in the study, 0.2 percent had an invasive aspergillosis diagnosis. After propensity score matching, researchers found both mortality and 30-day readmission rates were higher in the invasive aspergillosis group.
Additionally, invasive aspergillosis was associated with six excess days in the hospital and added $15,542 to the average cost per hospitalization.
"Given nearly 40,000 annual admissions for [invasive aspergillosis] in the United States, the aggregate IA-attributable excess costs may reach $600 million annually," study authors concluded.