From the Journals

Multiply recurrent C. difficile infection is on the rise

Publish date: July 6, 2017
By
Dan Watson
MDedge News

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This study’s findings may be understated

The retrospective cohort study was based on administrative data rather than laboratory data, Sameer D. Saini, MD, MS, and Akbar K. Waljee, MD, noted in an editorial accompanying the study. Further, with Medicare patients excluded from the study (because Medicare data were not available for the full time period studied for private insurance data), the data may not be of relevance to patients older than age 65 years.

But the general conclusion that both CDI and mrCDI are on the rise is a crucial matter. “We must first have a better understanding of mrCDI, its scope and epidemiology, and its associated risk factors. The study by Ma and colleagues begins this important work. A better understanding of the epidemiology of mrCDI is a critical first step toward developing a sound strategy to address this growing public health challenge.”

Dr. Saini and Dr. Waljee are with the VA Ann Arbor (Michigan) Center for Clinical Management. Their editorial accompanied the study in Annals of Internal Medicine (2017 Jul. doi: 10.7326/M17-1565).


 

FROM ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE

A retrospective cohort study of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), the most common health care–associated infection, found that multiply recurrent CDI (mrCDI) is increasing in incidence, disproportionately to the overall increase in CDI.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, worked with a database of more than 38 million individuals with private health insurance between January 2001 and December 2012.

Cases of CDI and mrCDI in the study population were determined through ICD-9 diagnosis codes, and prescriptions for treatment. To meet the definition of mrCDI, there had to be at least three courses of treatment lasting at least 14 days each.

In the study population, 45,341 persons developed CDI, of whom 1,669 had mrCDI. The median age was 46 years, and 58.9% were female. Between 2001 and 2012, CDI incidence increased by 42.7% (P = .004), while mrCDI incidence increased by 188.8% (P less than .001).

With increases in CDI and mrCDI incidence, and with the effectiveness of standard antibiotic treatment decreasing with each recurrence, “demand for new antimicrobial therapies and FMT [fecal microbiota transplantation] can be expected to increase considerably in the coming years,” wrote Gene K. Ma, MD, and his coauthors.

As for FMT, the researchers noted that its likely greater demand in the future (as suggested by their study results) highlights the importance of establishing the long-term safety of the procedure (Ann Intern Med. 2017 Jul. doi: 10.7326/M16-2733).

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