Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Clostridium Difficile Infection and Its Relationship with Fecal Occult Blood Test

Abstract

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an important health problem with severe morbidity and mortality. In our study, 266 adult patients admitted to the hospital between the years 2005 and 2020, and were diagnosed with CDI were included. The relationship between CDI and fecal occult blood test (FOBT) was examined, and it was aimed to determine the clinical characteristics of CDI patients and risk factors for mortality and recurrence in these patients. FOBT was found to be positive in 42.8% of our CDE patients who had occult blood in stool. Pseudomembranous enterocolitis (PME) developed in 2.2% of our patients and toxic megacolon developed in 0.8%; while 10.2% of the patients had a mortal course within 30 days and 5.2% of them had a recurrence. In our study, a significant relationship was found between mortality and advanced age, negativity of FOBT, presence of hospitalization history, and also between FOBT positivity and the presence of PME and recurrence. We believe that the data documented in this study are important because it both reveal the clinical characteristics of CDI patients and its relationship with FOBT.