Co-infection of other respiratory pathogens in COVID-19: associated
factors analysis and prognostic impact assessment
Abstract
The possibility of co-infection with other respiratory pathogens in
COVID-19 remains unclear. This study aims to expand the knowledge of
distribution and associated factors of co-infection in COVID-19
patients, and to assess the impact of co-infection on COVID-19
prognosis. Both univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to
identify independent factors for co-infection. Cox regression was
conducted to detect the association between co-infection and negative
conversion after controlling other related factors. The rate of
co-infection with at least one of other respiratory pathogens was
76.4%. 83.3% of co-infection cases were detected bacterial
co-infection, followed by 31.0% with viral co-infection. Over 70% of
neutrophils proportion (OR: 4.563; 95%CI: 1.116-18.648) was
independently factors for bacterial co-infection, but fever (HR: 4.506;
95%CI: 1.044-19.441) and chest tightness (OR: 0.106; 95%CI:
0.015-0.743) for viral co-infection. The strongest promotion of negative
conversion was detected with co-infection of only viruses (HR: 4.039;
95%CI: 1.238-13.177), and the weakest was found for co-infection of
only bacteria (HR: 2.909; 95%CI: 1.308-6.472). The promotion of mixed
bacteria and viruses was between co-infection of only bacteria and only
viruses (OR: 3.242; 95%CI: 1.171-8.977). A higher proportion of
bacterial co-infection is detected in comparison with viral co-infection
among COVID-19 patients. Over 70% of neutrophils proportion, fever and
chest tightness are independent factors associated with specific
co-infection in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additionally, different types of
co-infection could variously result in a promoted negative conversion of
COVID-19.