Introduction:

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) causes potentially lethal diarrhea.

Objective:

To identify the risk factors for mortality in hospitalized patients with CDI.

Method:

Cross-sectional, retrospective study. The analyzed risk factors were age, comorbidities, nutritional status, past and current use of antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, steroids, immunosuppressive therapy and chemotherapy, as well as development of acute kidney injury (AKI).

Results:

Sixty-eight cases were assessed. Mean age was 51.4 ± 19.37 years. Mortality was 22.2 %. Moderate to severe undernutrition (Odds ratio [OR] = 20.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.13-35; p = 0.004), use of more than 2 antibiotics (OR = 1.61; 95% CI = 0.39-6.65; p = 0.01), AKI as determined by creatinine levels (OR = 1.34; 95% CI = 0.09-2.21; p = 0.02), hypotension with vasopressor use (OR = 1.28; 95% CI = 0.30-1.23; p = 0.001) and multiple organ failure (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 0.31-4.92; p = 0.002) were associated with mortality.

Conclusions:

CDI represents an important problem in hospitalized patients and confers them an additional morbidity and mortality risk.