• Anne-Lise Bienvenu, Audrey Bestion, Pierre Pradat, Jean-Christophe Richard, Laurent Argaud, Céline Guichon, Sandrine Roux, Vincent Piriou, Carole Paillet, Gilles Leboucher, and Antifungal study group.
• Service Pharmacie, Groupement Hospitalier Nord, Hospices Civils de Lyon, 103 Grande rue de la Croix-Rousse, 69004, Lyon, France. anne-lise.bienvenu@chu-lyon.fr.
• Crit Care. 2022 Dec 13; 26 (1): 384384.

BackgroundIn the context of COVID-19 pandemic, antifungal overuse may have occurred in our hospitals as it has been previously reported for antibacterials.MethodsTo investigate the impact of COVID-19 on antifungal consumption, a multicenter retrospective study including four medical sites and 14 intensive care units (ICU) was performed. Antifungal consumption and incidences of invasive fungal diseases before and during COVID-19 pandemic, for non-COVID-19 patients and COVID-19 patients, were described.ResultsAn increase in voriconazole consumption was observed in 2020 compared with 2019 for both the whole hospital and the ICU (+ 40.3% and + 63.7%, respectively), whereas the incidence of invasive aspergillosis significantly increased in slightly lower proportions in the ICU (+ 46%). Caspofungin consumption also increased in 2020 compared to 2019 for both the whole hospital and the ICU (+ 34.9% and + 17.0%, respectively) with an increased incidence of invasive candidiasis in the whole hospital and the ICU but in lower proportions (+ 20.0% and + 10.9%, respectively).ConclusionsWe observed an increased consumption of antifungals including voriconazole and caspofungin in our hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and explained in part by an increased incidence of invasive fungal diseases in COVID-19 patients. These results are of utmost importance as it raises concern about the urgent need for appropriate antifungal stewardship activities to control antifungal consumption.© 2022. The Author(s).

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