Infections and risk factors for infection-related mortality after pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Mexico: A single center retrospective study

OBJECTIVE: To identify the type of infections and risk factors for infection-related mortality (IRM) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of patients <16 years of age treated in 2010–2019 was conducted. Unadjusted hazard ratios (HR) and adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated using Cox regression. Cumulative incidence was calculated. RESULTS: Data for 99 pediatric patients were analyzed. The myeloablative conditioning was the most used regimen (78.8%) and the hematopoietic stem cell source was predominantly peripheral blood (80.8%). Primary graft failure occurred in 19.2% of patients. Frequency of acute graft-versus-host disease was 46.5%. Total of 136 infectious events was recorded, the most common of which were bacterial (76.4%) followed by viral infection (15.5%) and then fungal infection (8.1%). The best predictors for infection subtypes where the following: a) for bacterial infection (the age groups of 10.1–15 years: aHR = 3.33; 95% CI: 1.62–6.85 and. >15 years: aHR = 3.34; 95% CI: 1.18–9.45); b) for viral infection (graft versus host disease: aHR = 5.36; 95% CI: 1.62–17.68), however, for fungal infection statistically significant predictors were not identified. Related mortality was 30% (n = 12). Increased risk for infection-related mortality was observed in patients with unrelated donor and umbilical cord stem cells recipients (HR = 3.12; 95% CI: 1.00–9.85). CONCLUSIONS: Frequencies of infections and infection-related mortality appear to be similar to those reported. Unrelated donors and stem cells from umbilical cord recipients were associated with a high risk of mortality.