FACTORS THAT IMPACT THE RISK OF DEATH IN CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE INFECTION

Liliana Baroiu¹, Caterina Dumitru^{1, *}, Alina Iancu¹, Ana-Cristina Leșe^{2, *}, Nicușor Baroiu³, Miruna Drăgănescu¹ 

¹Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Galati, Romania - ²George Enescu” National University of Arts, Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, Iasi, Romania - ³Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati, Faculty of Engineering, Galati, Romania

Introduction: The purpose of the current study is to determine the impact of clinical and paraclinical factors on death rate after an episode of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).

Materials and methods: The study was performed on 706 patients admitted to the “St. Parascheva” Clinic Hospital of Infectious Diseases Galati, between 1.01.2017÷31.12.2018 .

Results: The results of the study show that the following factors significantly influence the death rate after a CDI episode: leukocytes - an increase by 1000 of them increases the risk of death 1.06 times; albumin - an increase of 1 g/dl decreases approximately 5 times the risk of death; hemoglobin value - an increase of 1 g/dl decreases the risk of death by 20%; sodium - an increase of 1 mEq/L of blood sodium level decreases by 5% the risk of death; potassium - an increase of 1 mEq/L of blood potassium level decreases the risk of death by 28%; creatinine - an increase in serum creatinine by 1 mg/dl increases the risk of death by 30%; ATLAS score - an increase of the ATLAS score by 1 unit, increases the risk of death by 1.5 times and ascites - patients with ascites have a risk of death about 4 times higher than those without ascites.

Conclusion: The influence of comorbidities on the risk of death at 30 days from the episode of CDI and at 6 months after the episode of CDI is very high. Clostridium difficile infection is only a potentially aggravating or precipitating factor, the primary cause of death being the basic disease. The onset of CDI can be considered a predictive factor of death in these patients with multiple comorbidities.