title: Decreasing mortality rate in early pneumonia following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
abstract: Pulmonary complications after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) remain 1 of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality. This study evaluates the change over time of incidence, aetiology and risk factors for death related to pneumonia within 3 months after HSCT. 997 patients who underwent HSCT were studied retrospectively. Most patients (83%) had a haematological malignancy. The majority (89%) had an HLA-A, -B, and -DR matched related or unrelated donor. Conditioning consisted of cyclophosphamide and total-body irradiation or busulfan and graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis of cyclosporin and methotrexate in most cases. Death related to pneumonia occurred in 56 (5.6%) patients. Cytomegalovirus (37%) was the main pathogen involved, especially during the first 2 decades studied. In the multivariate risk factor analysis, we found that death from pneumonia was significantly associated with receiving a T-cell depleted graft (p<0.001), bacteraemia (p=0.001), and y of transplantation (p<0.001). In patients receiving a transplant during the last decade, the incidence of death related to pneumonia was 2.8% compared to 8.9% during the first decade. We conclude that the rate of mortality related to pneumonia has decreased over time, possibly as a result of improved diagnostic, prophylactic and therapeutic methods and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Huddinge, Sweden. ulrica.forslow@karolinska.se
authors.forename: Ulrica
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Forslöw
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mattsson
authors.forename: Olle
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ringden
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klominek
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Remberger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data