Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is now the most common cause of health-care-associated infection and carries a mortality rate ranging from 5-30%. Previously, trauma patients in whom CDI developed were thought to represent a unique younger at-risk population. This study aimed to establish the incidence of CDI among adult trauma patients. We hypothesized that these patients would have increased risk of death, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), and hospital LOS compared with trauma patients without CDI.
Patients and methods: A retrospective study of all adult trauma patients admitted for greater than 48 hours to a single Level I trauma center between 2014 and 2016 was conducted. Analysis was performed using 1-to-5 propensity score matching with the aim to analyze the relationship between CDI, death, and other outcome variables.
Results: Between 2014 and 2016, of 4893 trauma patients admitted for >48 hours, 27 (0.6%) patients received a diagnosis of CDI. These patients had a mean age of 55.6 years, mean injury severity score (ISS) of 22.4, and mortality rate of 9.1%. Of these patients, 22 were able to find appropriate propensity score matches. After adjusting for important covariables, there was no significant difference in death between CDI and non-CDI patients (odds ratio = 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.06-2.57, adjusted p = 0.66). In addition, there was no significant difference in ICU LOS between the two groups (relative mean [RM]: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.04-2.33, adjusted p = 0.0971). The CDI patients, however, did have a significantly longer hospital LOS, compared with non-CDI patients (RM = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.16-1.66, adjusted p = 0.0017).
Conclusions: Among trauma patients admitted >48 hours CDI occurred at a rate of 0.6%, much lower than anticipated. Patients in whom CDI developed had a significantly longer hospital LOS however, had no significant difference in odds of mortality or ICU LOS compared to patients without CDI.
Keywords: Clostridium difficile; hospital-acquired infection; trauma.