Researchers report that antibiotic use and other factors such as emergency department visits can increase the risk of community-acquired C. difficile infections.
The researchers performed a case-control study of 226 pairs of patients at 10 sites in the United States from October 2014 to March 2015. Adults with confirmed C. difficile infection were matched with one uninfected control. Researchers interviewed patients about relevant exposures and performed multivariate condition logistic regression analysis.
Multivariate analysis showed that exposure to several antibiotics were linked with community-acquired C. difficile, including cephalosporin, clindamycin, fluoroquinolone, and beta-lactam and/or beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations.
