RISK EXPOSED: EXAMINATION OF C. DIFFICILE INFECTION RISK FACTORS IN THE NOBA REGION

MORICONI ND; BARBERO AM; PALMA S,; ERBITI G,; ALTAMIRANDA C,; CALVO ZARLENGA M,; BALBI MG,; MACHAÍN M,; MARTÍNEZ G,; SUÁREZ J,; HERNÁNDEZ DEL PINO RE,; PASQUINELLI V

San Luis

Congreso; LXXI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología (SAI); 2023

SAI

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. CDI represents a nosocomial infection ranging from an asymptomatic carrier state or mild diarrhoea to the severity of pseudomembranous colitis and ultimately death. The administration of antibiotics is a widely recognized CDI risk factor, attributable to disruption of the commensal microbiome. Advanced age and coexisting conditions such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cardiopulmonarydiseases have also been linked to CDI due to the need for hospitalization they entail.Besides, the suppression of gastric acid may facilitate the persistence of C. difficile spores, potentially amplifying the risk of CDI in patients using proton pump inhibitors.Since the information on CDI in Argentina remains both scarce and heterogeneous, inthis study we aim to characterize risk factors and demographic patterns linked to CDIin hospitalized patients. A cohort of 200 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and diarrhoea from the Northwestern Region of Buenos Aires (NOBA) were evaluated. Thepresence of C. difficile within stool samples was ascertained by an algorithm that includes 3 tests (EIA, PCR, and toxigenic culture), accompanied by an exhaustive analysis of the patients' medical records. Clinical and demographic characteristics were evaluated employing the Mann-Whitney test or the exact Fisher’s test, as appropriate for each variable. Additionally, a multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify independent risk factors. The obtained results were contrasted against findings of other 39 studies through a meta-analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted using RStudio, considering the CDI negative patients as the control group.CDI positive patients showed an increased number of total leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, basophiles, and platelets, suggesting that these immune cells count as predictors of CDI risk (p