BACKGROUND Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients are at an increased risk for CDI. A recent study showed an overall improvement in mortality amongst hospitalized individuals with CDI, but it is unclear if this benefit extends to SOT recipients. METHODS We scrutinized the 2015 and 2016 National Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest all-payer inpatient database in the United States for CDI data in patients with SOT. SOT was defined as any recipient who had received a heart, lung, liver, intestinal, kidney, pancreas, or combined thoracic and/or abdominal organ transplantation. Baseline characteristics, comorbidities, and concomitant diagnosis of pneumonia or urinary tract infection were adjusted for in our analysis. Primary outcomes included inpatient mortality, hospital length of stay and total hospital charges. RESULTS A total of 105,780 hospital discharges of SOT recipients were included. The incidence of CDI was 3,554 (3.36%) among SOTs. CDI was associated with a higher inpatient mortality (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.56-2.20, p<0.01), longer length of hospital stay (mean difference 5.07 days, 95%CI 4.43-5.71, p<0.01) and higher total hospital charges (mean difference 43,958 US dollars, p<0.01). CONCLUSION Our study found that CDI is associated with poorer overall outcomes among hospitalized SOT recipients. However, there was a possible improving trend of the outcomes when compare to previous studies.
Outcomes of C. difficile Infection in Solid-organ Transplant Recipients: The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2015-2016.