Table 2. Clinical Characteristics of the study population during hospitalization, by study groups.
| Clinical Characteristics | Cases: Patients testing positive for C. difficile (N = 212) | Patients without C. difficile infection | |
| Patients negative on C. difficile test - Controls type 1 (N = 185) | Patients without a C. difficile test - Controls type 2 (N = 159) | ||
| Procedure during Hospitalization, % (n) (pv vs. cases) | |||
| Colonoscopy | 6.1% (13) | 7.1%(13) (pv = 1.000) | 2.5%(4) (pv = 0.092) |
| Surgery | 22.9% (47/205) | 28.2%(51/181) (pv = 0.590) | 3.8%(6) (pv<0.001) |
| Feeding, %(n) | |||
| Oral | 71.2% (151) | 67.6%(125) | 85.6%(136) |
| Nasogastric tube | 25.5% (54) | 31.9%(59) | 12.6%(20) |
| PEG | 3.3% (7) | 0.5%(1) | 1.9%(3) |
| (pv vs. cases) | (pv = 0.925) | (pv = 0.003) | |
| Antibiotics 3 months prior to or during hospitalization, % (n) (pv vs. cases) | 96.7% (205) | 91.9% (170) (pv = 0.064) | 66.0% (105) (pv<0.001) |
| Before Hospitalization | 45.8% (97) | 20.0% (37) (pv<0.001) | 19.5% (31) (pv<0.001) |
| During Hospitalization | 93.4% (198) | 88.1% (163) (pv = 0.151) | 64.2% (102)(pv<0.001) |
| WBC | |||
| Mean±SD | 15.7±18.6 | 11.9±7.9 | 11.6±7. 7 |
| Positive result obtained for test in, % (n) (pv vs. cases) | |||
| Bacteriology | 54.7%(116) | 48.1%(89) (pv = 0.271) | 25.3%(40) (pv<0.001) |
| Blood | 19.3% (41) | 23.8% (44) (pv = 0.499) | 9.4% (15) (pv = 0.002) |
| Sputum | 9.1% (19) | 11.4%(21) (pv = 0.398) | 0.6% (1) (pv<0.001) |
| Urine | 40.6%(86) | 27.5%(51) (pv = 0.014) | 14.5%(23) (pv<0.001) |
| Length of stay, days | |||
| Median | 16.0 | 13.0 | 5.0 |
| Min-Max | 0.0–440.0 | 1.0–127.0 (pv = 0.078) | 1.0–69.0 (pv<0.001) |
| Mortality, %(n) (pv vs. cases) | |||
| In-hospital | 21.2% (45) | 18.4%(34) (pv = 0.409) | 13.2%(21) (pv = 0.010) |
| At 1 year follow-up | 53.3%(113) | 45.4%(84) (pv = 0.110) | 37.7%(60) (pv<0.001) |