IBD: A Growing and Vulnerable Cohort of Hospitalized Patients with Clostridium difficile Infection

The most recent nationwide data show a rising incidence of Clostridium difficile infection in hospitalized patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). We describe recent national trends with regard to incidence, mortality, and the rate of total colectomy. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample database identified patients admitted to hospitals in the United States with diagnoses of C. difficile and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) during the study years 2007 to 2013. We analyzed incidence of C. difficile, mortality, and colectomy rates. From 2007 to 2013, incidence of patients with IBD admitted with the primary diagnosis of C. difficile rose faster than the non-IBD population (1.24% to 2.14% vs 0.26% to 0.30%, P < 0.0001) and specifically in the UC population rose from 2.36 to 3.48 per cent (P < 0.001). The mortality of non-IBD patients with C. difficile decreased 47 per cent (3.76% to 1.99%, P = 0.003), whereas mortality of IBD patients with C. difficile decreased 54 per cent (6.08% to 2.79%, P = 0.003). For UC patients with primary diagnosis C. difficile, the percentage undergoing total colectomy decreased by 38 per cent (2.47% vs 1.51%, P = 0.049). The incidence of C. difficile continues to rise in the both the IBD and non-IBD population. Our study shows decreasing mortality for IBD and non-IBD patients with C. difficile but a greater decrease in mortality for IBD patients.