Approximately 10 percent of elderly patients are readmitted due to Clostridium difficile infections, according to preliminary data reported in MedPage Today.
Researchers studied Medicare claims data from 2009 to 2013 and found older patients with comorbidities were more likely to experience a C. diff-related readmission.
Fifty-eight percent of C. diff readmissions occurred within 25 days after hospital discharge, and 80 percent occurred within 73 days. Additionally, 22 percent of patients were readmitted more than once.
Researchers noted patients with comorbidities had four times the risk of being readmitted for C. diff.
Other risk factors for C. diff readmission include an initial hospital stay due to a C. diff infection lasting less than seven days, being female, being between the ages of 75 and 84 and having inflammatory bowel disease, according to the report.
"We may have to make sure that C. difficile is eradicated from these older patients — especially those with inflammatory bowel disease — before we discharge them from the hospital," said Courtney Collins, MD, an author of the study. "The first 2 months seem to be the most critical time for readmission."
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