Patient characteristics during the follow-up period
Patient characteristics and clinical outcomes during follow-up period are shown in Table 2. There was no difference in the amount of follow-up time for those with frequent fungi compared to rare [mean (SD) 4.3 (2.4) versus 4.3 (2.2) years, p = 0.70]. Those with frequent fungi had more respiratory cultures during this period compared to the rare group although the range was large [median (range) 10 (2-76) versus 7 (2-64) respectively, p = 0.02]. We did not detect differences in mean ppFEV1, BMI percentile, co-morbidities or IgE concentrations between groups. Individuals with frequent fungi were more likely to have chronicP. aeruginosa (51% vs. 37%, p = 0.01) and to ever have culturedP. aeruginosa (73% vs. 52%, p < 0.001) compared to those with rare fungus. Individuals with frequent fungi were also more likely to have S. maltophilia (47% versus 30%, p=0.004) consistent with baseline findings. There were no differences observed in frequency of MRSA and MSSA between groups.