Early treatment for Clostridioides difficile infection: retrospective cohort study

Clostridioides difficile (CDI) is a common cause of infectious diarrhea. The current recommendation is to initiate empirical antibiotic treatment for suspected CDI who have an anticipated delay of confirmatory results or fulminant colitis. This is based on limited clinical trials. The study aims to examine the impact of early treatment on mortality and clinical outcomes.

This retrospective cohort study included adult patients with CDI. Early treatment was defined as the initiation of an anti-Clostridioides medication within the first 24 h following stool sampling. Outcomes were 30 and 90 day mortality, length of hospital stay (LOS), recurrence, and colectomy rate. To address potential bias, propensity score matching followed by logistic regression was performed, P value less than 5% was considered statistically significant.

Study cohort consisted of 796 patients; clinical characteristics were balanced following matching. There was no difference, in favor of early treatment, between the groups regarding 30 day mortality and 90 day mortality with HR of 0.91 (95% CI 0.56-1.47) and 0.7 (95% CI 0.45-1.08), respectively. No statistically significant difference in recurrence rate, ICU admission or colectomy rate was observed. The LOS was shorter in the early-treatment group with 6 days vs. 8 days.

Early treatment for CDI had shortened hospital stay. However, it did not affect clinical outcomes in adult patients.