Estimating Clostridioides difficile infection-associated readmission rates: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The economic burden of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is considerable and mostly associated with a high frequency of hospitalizations. Numerous publications have demonstrated that CDI is associated with a higher risk of hospital readmission, but not always a specific rate or attributable to disease recurrence.

In this systematic review, we describe the incidence of 30-day CDI-associated readmission rates and the effect of active interventions. Three search engines were utilized for the literature search, and a total of 9 studies were included in this review. Hospital readmission proportions from interventional and observational studies were analyzed through meta-analysis with random effects.

Two thousand five hundred and twenty-one articles were identified. After screening full-text articles, 9 eligible articles published between 2002 and 2023 met the inclusion criteria. In total, 132,862 CDI patients were evaluated. Thirty-day CDI-associated readmissions were defined as either an ICD9/10 code indicating CDI admission with a prior admission within the past 30 days (n = 4) or a medical chart evaluation of signs and symptoms consistent with CDI (diarrhea) along with a positive diagnostic test (n = 5) with a prior hospitalization for CDI within the past 30 days. Meta-analysis of observational studies estimated 30-day CDI readmissions were 6% (95% CI, 5%-7%). Three studies evaluated the effect of active interventions to reduce CDI-associated 30-day readmission rates. Two of 3 interventions reduced the likelihood of CDI-associated 30-day readmissions.

This systematic review identified a 6% rate of 30-day CDI-associated hospital readmission. Antimicrobial stewardship efforts and the use of specific therapeutics were shown to reduce these rates.