Risk particularly high in those with bowel disease or requiring antibiotics or immunosuppression
TUESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) appears to be increasing among hospitalized children, with especially high risk among children with inflammatory bowel disease or other conditions requiring antibiotics or immunosuppression, according to a study published online Jan. 3 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
In a retrospective cohort study, Cade M. Nylund, M.D., of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed a nationally weighted number of children (10,474,454) discharged from the hospital, including 21,274 who had CDI, to assess trends in CDI in hospitalized children and to evaluate the severity of and risk factors associated with CDI.
The investigators found that CDI increased from 3,565 cases in 1997 to 7,779 cases in 2006. The investigators also found that patients with CDI had an increased risk of death, colectomy, longer length of hospital stay, and higher hospitalization charges (adjusted odds ratios, 1.20, 1.36, 4.34, and 2.12, respectively). However, the investigators did not find a trend in death, colectomy, length of hospital stay, or hospitalization charges during 1997, 2000, 2003, or 2006. Comorbid diagnoses related to CDI included inflammatory bowel disease (odds ratio, 11.42) and other conditions associated with immunosuppression or antibiotic administration.
"There is an increasing trend in CDI among hospitalized children, and this disease is having a significant effect on these children. In contrast to adults, there is no increasing trend in the severity of CDI in children," the authors write.
Abstract
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