Increasing Incidence of and Increased Mortality Associated With<i>Clostridium difficile</i>–Associated Megacolon

Abstract

The symptoms of Clostridium difficile infection range from diarrhea to the rare, but potentially fatal, toxic megacolon.The aim of this study is to determine the changes in the incidence and outcomes of C difficile-associated megacolon over a 10year period.Methods | Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2000-2010) and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes, we identified patients with both C difficile infection and megacolon.Patients without both diagnoses were excluded.The study cohort included patients who were managed with surgery and those who were managed without surgery.This study used deidentified data and is exempt from institutional review board approval.The outcome measures were length of stay, inflation-adjusted cost of hospitalization, transitional care needs, and in-hospital mortality. 1Analyses were performed with χ 2 tests and analysis of variance.P > .05 was considered statistically significant.