Korean J Med Mycol.  2016 Dec;21(4):111-121. 10.17966/KJMM.2016.21.4.111.

Epidemiology of Fungal Infections in Patients Admitted via Emergency Department in Korea (2011~2013)

• Seo Y
• Park J
• Jang T

• KMID: 2368998
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17966/KJMM.2016.21.4.111

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Fungal infections are frequent encountered conditions presented in various clinical forms. The prevalence of fungal infection is gradually growing because of the increase in aged population and immune-compromised host which is susceptible factor of fungal infection. Broad array of studies of fungal infection have been published in Korea. However, epidemiologic study of fungal infection in admitted patients via emergency department has not been conducted.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to generate background data for emergency department visits in relation to fungal infection for developing a subsequent management and control system.
METHODS
The data was collected from National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) in Korea from 2011 to 2013. Data analysis was done to evaluate the age distribution of admission, regional variance and sex of the patients with fungal infection.
RESULTS
The patients were divided into five groups according to their primary diagnosis which were skin fungal infection, subcutaneous mycoses, opportunistic mycoses, systemic mycoses and other mycoses. The annual admission ratio of general fungal infections increased from 2.15 persons per 100,000 in 2011 to 2.46 persons per 100,000 in 2013. The highest admission ratio was seen in opportunistic mycoses group followed by cutaneous fungal infections, other mycoses, subcutaneous mycoses and systemic mycoses groups.
CONCLUSION
This study provides a basic set of data pertaining to fungal infections in emergency departments. Therefore, more systemically approached researches are required to implement sounder management and control systems of fungal infections presented in emergency departments.

MeSH Terms

Age Distribution
Diagnosis
Emergencies*
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Epidemiologic Studies
Epidemiology*
Humans
Information Systems
Korea*
Mycoses
Prevalence
Skin
Statistics as Topic