Abstract
Pseudomembranous colitis is a frequent nosocomial infection associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Clostridium difficile infection incidence most frequently increases due to unreasonable antibiotic use and the appearance of new hypervirulent bacterial strains, which leads to prolonged hospitalization and an increase in the total cost of hospital treatment.
This is a retrospective design study conducted at Clinical Centre Kragujevac from January to December 2014. The patient data were obtained from the protocol of the Virological Laboratory and from medical documentation. All statistical analyses were performed using the computer program SPSS. The descriptive statistical data are expressed as percentage values. Continuous variables are expressed as the arithmetic mean with the standard deviation.
Clostridium difficile infection occurred more frequently with elderly patients (123 patients were over 65 years old). Out of 154 patients on antibiotic treatment, 110 patients were treated with a combination of two or more antibiotics from different pharmacological groups. The most represented antibiotics were from the cephalosporin (71.4%) and quinolone (46.3%) groups. A total of 85.8% of the patients used proton pump inhibitors and H2 blockers.
Our results describe the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with diagnosed Clostridium difficile infection. The most prevalent characteristics (age, antibiotic therapy, PPI and H2 blocker use), which other researchers have also mentioned as risk factors, were present in our study as well.