Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Clostridium difficile is the main cause of nosocomial and antibiotic-associated diarrhea in adults. Recently, the incidence and severity of C difficile-associated disease in adults have been increasing. Whether similar phenomena are occurring among children remains unknown. Our study describes the epidemiological features of C difficile-associated disease in hospitalized children.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized children with C difficile-associated disease at 22 freestanding children's hospitals in the United States, from 2001 to 2006. Cases of C difficile-associated disease were defined as a hospitalized child with a discharge code for C difficile infection, a laboratory billing charge for a C difficile toxin assay, and receipt of antimicrobial therapy for C difficile-associated disease.

We identified 4895 patients with C difficile-associated disease. Over the study period, the annual incidence of C difficile-associated disease increased from 2.6 to 4.0 cases per 1000 admissions and from 4.4 to 6.5 cases per 10 000 patient-days. The median age of children with C difficile-associated disease was 4 years. Twenty-six percent of patients were < 1 year of age. The majority of patients (67%) had underlying chronic medical conditions. The colectomy and all-cause mortality rates among children with C difficile-associated disease did not increase during the study period.

The annual incidence of C difficile-associated disease in hospitalized children increased significantly from 2001 to 2006. However, the rates of colectomy and in-hospital death have not increased in children with C difficile-associated disease as they have among adults. The risk factors and outcomes for children with C difficile-associated disease remain to be defined in future studies.

Written by:
Kim J, Smathers SA, Prasad P, Leckerman KH, Coffin S, Zaoutis T.   Are you the author?

Reference:
Pediatrics. 2008 Dec;122(6):1266-70.
doi:10.1542/peds.2008-0469

PubMed Abstract
PMID:19047244

Please log-in or register in order to submit comments.

Powered by AkoComment!