Patterns of antibiotic use and risk of hospital admission because of Clostridium difficile infection.

This paper questions the assumption held by a vast majority of medical professionals that Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections are essentially always preceded by antibiotic use. The study analysed only C. difficile infections acquired outside the hospital by patients aged 65 or older, and serious enough to require a hospitalisation. Their results show that 53% of the patients studied had not been exposed to antibiotics during the 45 days preceding their C. difficile-related hospitalisation. The rate decreased to 46% when the pre-hospitalisation timeframe was extended to 90 days. CMAJ. 2008;179:767-72.