Characteristics associated with short-term risk of C. difficile infection among hospitalized patients Open Access

Abstract

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of infectious healthcare-associated diarrhea. Factors associated with the short-term risk of CDI have not been evaluated. This case-control study examined patient characteristics associated with short-term risk of CDI within 14 days among hospitalized patients with multiple tests who initially test negative. Patients were defined as cases if they had initially tested negative by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by a positive PCR test within 14 days. Controls were drawn from a population of patients from the same time period who had repeat testing and no positive result within 14 days of an initial negative PCR test. Each case was matched with three controls by age and days of hospitalization prior to first PCR test. Conditional logistic regression was used to assess the association between patient characteristics and antibiotic classes and short-term risk of C. difficile. Of 750 patients who had a test repeated within 14 days, 30 acquired C. difficile.There was a trend for patients with recent gastrointestinal procedure (odds ratio [OR] 2.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.84, 6.88) for short-term acquisition of CDI. Cases had a higher proportion of recent intravenous vancomycin use within 8 weeks prior to first PCR test (OR 3.38, 95% CI 1.34, 8.49). Controls had a higher proportion of recent antiviral use (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.11, 0.83) as compared to cases. Only 4.0% (30/750) of this study population had short-term acquisition of C. difficile and 1.3% (10/750) of the short-term cases of CDI were detected within 7 days. The association with previous intravenous vancomycin use previously has not been described in patients with short-term CDI. The practical implications for this in terms of repeated testing may include eliciting this antibiotic history when clinicians request testing earlier than 7 days in a hospitalized patient.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...1 BACKGROUND...3 METHODS...7
RESULTS...11 DISCUSSION...15 REFERENCES...22 TABLES AND FIGURES...26

About this Master's Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Clinical Research Curriculum Program
Degree	MS
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Biology, Microbiology Health Sciences, Epidemiology
Keyword	Clostridium difficile PCR diagnosis
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Burd, Eileen, Emory University
Committee Members	McGowan Jr., John E, Emory University Klein, Mitchel, Emory University

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	Characteristics associated with short-term risk of C. difficile infection among hospitalized patients ()	2018-08-28 10:42:03 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions