Analysis of risk factors of fungal superinfections in viral pneumonia patients: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Background Infections with fungi, such as Aspergillus species, have been found as common complications of viral pneumonia. This study aims to determine the risk factors of fungal superinfections in viral pneumonia patients using meta‐analysis. Objective This study aims to determine the risk factors of fungal infection s in viral pneumonia patients using meta‐analysis. Methods We reviewed primary literature about fungal infection in viral pneumonia patients published between January 1, 2010 and September 30, 2020, in the Chinese Biomedical Literature, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang (China), Cochrane Central Library, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. These studies were subjected to an array of statistical analyses, including risk of bias and sensitivity analyses. Results In this study, we found a statistically significant difference in the incidence of fungal infections in viral pneumonia patients that received corticosteroid treatment as compared to those without corticosteroid treatment (p