A review of mortality due to Clostridium difficile infection

In this review we examine published literature to ascertain mortality in relation to Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and the factors associated with mortality. In the 27 studies that had sufficient data, there were 10975 cases of CDI with great heterogeneity in the methods for reporting mortality. We calculated the overall associated mortality to be at least 5.99% within 3 months of diagnosis. The most important finding is that higher mortality is associated with advanced age, being 13.5% in patients over 80 years. Studies performed after 2000 had a significantly higher mortality than those before this date. We propose minimum standards for reporting mortality in future studies.