Abstract
Introduction
Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy are prone to infections because of the treatment regimens' immunosuppression.
Objectives
This study estimated the overall incidence of respiratory infections among patients undergoing chemotherapy and associated risk factors.
Methods
This study is a retrospective chart review of cancer patients at Princess Noorah Oncology Center in Western Saudi Arabia from January 2017 to December 2020.
Results
This study included 196 patients, 53.1% males and 50.5% older than 50 years. The estimated incidence of respiratory infections among participants was 8.7%, and the most commonly detected organism was
Klebsiella pneumoniae
(35.3%). The risk factors significantly associated with infection were ICU admission (p=0.001), the use of mechanical ventilation (p=0.003), and the presence of hematologic malignancy (p=0.02).
Conclusion
Future multi-center studies should employ a prospective design, including laboratory confirmation of causative organisms. Such studies may better estimate the infection-associated burden on cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.