A Real-World Study on the Clinical Characteristics, Outcomes, and Relationship between Antibiotic Exposure and <i>Clostridioides difficile</i> Infection
Bogdan Ioan Vintila,
Anca Maria Arseniu,
Claudiu Morgovan,
Anca Butuca,
Victoria Bîrluțiu,
Carmen Maximiliana Dobrea,
Luca Liviu Rus,
Steliana Ghibu,
Alina Simona Bereanu,
Rares Arseniu,
Ioana Roxana Codru,
Mihai Sava,
Felicia Gabriela Gligor
Affiliations
Bogdan Ioan Vintila
Clinical Surgical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Anca Maria Arseniu
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Claudiu Morgovan
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Anca Butuca
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Victoria Bîrluțiu
County Clinical Emergency Hospital, 550245 Sibiu, Romania
Carmen Maximiliana Dobrea
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Luca Liviu Rus
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Steliana Ghibu
Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Pathophysiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Alina Simona Bereanu
Clinical Surgical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Rares Arseniu
County Emergency Clinical Hospital ”Pius Brînzeu”, 300723 Timișoara, Romania
Ioana Roxana Codru
Clinical Surgical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Mihai Sava
Clinical Surgical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Felicia Gabriela Gligor
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania
Clostridioides difficile is a Gram-positive bacteria that causes nosocomial infections, significantly impacting public health. In the present study, we aimed to describe the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and relationship between antibiotic exposure and Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in patients based on reports from two databases. Thus, we conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with CDI from Sibiu County Clinical Emergency Hospital (SCCEH), Romania, followed by a descriptive analysis based on spontaneous reports submitted to the EudraVigilance (EV) database. From 1 January to 31 December 2022, we included 111 hospitalized patients with CDI from SCCEH. Moreover, 249 individual case safety reports (ICSRs) from EVs were analyzed. According to the data collected from SCCEH, CDI was most frequently reported in patients aged 65–85 years (66.7%) and in females (55%). In total, 71.2% of all patients showed positive medical progress. Most cases were reported in the internal medicine (n = 30, 27%), general surgery (n = 26, 23.4%), and infectious disease (n = 22, 19.8%) departments. Patients were most frequently exposed to ceftriaxone (CFT) and meropenem (MER). Also, in the EV database, most CDI-related ADRs were reported for CFT, PIP/TAZ (piperacillin/tazobactam), MER, and CPX (ciprofloxacin). Understanding the association between previous antibiotic exposure and the risk of CDI may help update antibiotic stewardship protocols and reduce the incidence of CDI by lowering exposure to high-risk antibiotics.
