Abstract

BECERRA, María Gabriela; OSPINA, Sigifredo; LEON ATEHORTUA, Santiago  and  BERBES, Dedsy Yajaira. Risk factors for Clostridium difficileinfection. Infect. [online]. 2011, vol.15, n.4, pp.220-226. ISSN 0123-9392.

Introduction: Clostridium difficile is a Gram positive strict anaerobic spore-forming bacillus, so it is able to persist under adverse conditions for long time. This microorganism is a the most common cause of health care associated infection, with clinical manifestations ranging from uncomplicated diarrhea to sepsis and even death. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk factors for C. difficile infection in a teaching hospital. Materials and methods: We conducted a case control study in patients over 18 years, of both gender, who had developed diarrhea during their hospitalization in teaching Hospital of San Vicente Fundación and who underwent the toxin test for C. difficile, between September 2009 and December 2010. From this population we selected 22 cases and 44 controls. Results: The risk factors that were found associated were: age over 65 years (OR = 3.4 95% CI 1.1 to 10.1, P = 0.05), stay in ICU (OR = 4.0, 95% CI 1.3 to 12.2, P = 0.02) and the use of the proton pump inhibitors (OR = 5.15, 95% CI 1.6 to 15.9, p <0.05). Conclusions: This study identified factors associated with infection by C. difficile, according with those most frequently described in literature. Although no association was found with prior use of antibiotics in multivariate analysis, there was an association with previous use of third-generation cephalosporins in the bivariate analysis.

Keywords : Risk factors; Infection associated with health care; Clostridium difficile.

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