Incidence and characteristics of Invasive Fungal Infections in patients being treated with Systemic Anticancer Therapies in England - Pfizer

Patients

PP-UNP-GBR-12526 June 2025

Summary

Investigating fungal infections in cancer patients receiving treatment in England

When people are treated for cancer, the medicines they are given can weaken their immune system. This makes them more likely to get infections, including those caused by fungi. Fungal infections can be very serious and are often hard to treat. Doctors are trying to find better ways to prevent and treat these infections so that cancer patients can stay safe and healthy. To support this aim, Pfizer is using anonymised NHS data to explore which factors affect the health outcomes of cancer patients with fungal infections. This will provide important information to understand which cancer patients are most at risk of getting a fungal infection to help ensure they receive the best care possible. 

Pfizer

What is the health issue?

Cancer directly affects thousands of people in the UK, with over 385,000 new cancer cases every year and around 167,000 cancer deaths per year1. Cancer treatment can weaken the immune system, making patients more prone to infections. Significant research has been done on the effects of cancer treatment on bacterial and viral infections but less has been done to understand fungal infections. Fungal infections have recently gained recognition as a growing threat to public health. They are also linked with substantial healthcare costs, as well as the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance. 

Data sources used:

• Hospital Episode Statistics (HES): includes details on patient hospital admissions, outpatient appointments, and accident and emergency attendances at NHS hospitals in England

• Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) dataset: collects information on cancer treatments used across NHS England trusts

What are the researchers trying to find out?

Researchers from Pfizer are aiming to examine how often invasive fungal infections (IFIs) occur in patients being treated for cancer, and to describe the types of affected patients including the type of cancer they have and type of treatment they received.

Why does the research require the use of health data?

To be able to evaluate the impact of IFIs in people of different ages, ethnicities and medical histories in all parts of England, it is essential to have access to a large number of representative anonymised cancer patient health records. By analysing anonymised patient data from NHS England’s Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) datasets, researchers can better understand the relationship between cancer treatments and fungal infections. 

How is the research being done?

This study is using anonymised health data to better understand the relationship between cancer treatment and the number of IFIs. For patients who had IFIs, researchers are also analysing the costs of treatment and the risk of death due to the infection. Further analyses will help to understand the effect of patient characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and level of deprivation on these results

Why will the results matter?

Findings from this research will give doctors more information about the risk of developing an IFI when patients are receiving cancer treatment. It will help doctors choose better medicines for cancer patients in the future which might lower the chance of patients getting an IFI while in hospital. These results will enable the NHS to understand which groups of cancer patients are most likely to be affected by IFIs and improve care pathways. 

Further information

This case study has been adapted from the study: Incidence and characteristics of invasive fungal infections in patients being treated with Systemic Anticancer Therapies (SACT) in England. More information regarding the study can be found here. 

Read the clinical study

Glossary

Anonymised data: data where personal information has been removed from data so that individuals cannot be identified. This process ensures privacy and confidentiality, making it safe to use the data for research or analysis without revealing who the data belongs to.
Antimicrobial resistance: when microorganisms like bacteria, viruses and fungi evolve and no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines, making infections harder to treat.
Invasive fungal infections (IFIs): Infections where fungi, like yeasts or moulds, invade normally sterile parts of the body, such as blood, tissues and organs

References

1.    Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics for the UK [Internet]. London: Cancer Research UK; [cited 2025 Jun 23]. Available from: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics-for-the-uk#heading-One

Last modified: 27 June 2025

Last reviewed: 27 June 2025