A prediction model for Clostridium difficile recurrence

Abstract

Background

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a growing problem in the community and hospital setting. Its incidence has been on the rise over the past two decades, and it is quickly becoming a major concern for the health care system. High rate of recurrence is one of the major hurdles in the successful treatment of C. difficile infection. There have been few studies that have looked at patterns of recurrence. The studies currently available have shown a number of risk factors associated with C. difficile recurrence (CDR); however, there is little consensus on the impact of most of the identified risk factors.

Methods

Our study was a retrospective chart review of 198 patients diagnosed with CDI via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) from January 2009 to Jun 2013. In our study, we decided to use a machine learning algorithm called the Random Forest (RF) to analyze all of the factors proposed to be associated with CDR. This model is capable of making predictions based on a large number of variables, and has outperformed numerous other models and statistical methods.

Results

We came up with a model that was able to accurately predict the CDR with a sensitivity of 83.3%, specificity of 63.1%, and area under curve of 82.6%. Like other similar studies that have used the RF model, we also had very impressive results.

Conclusions

We hope that in the future, machine learning algorithms, such as the RF, will see a wider application.

Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming, gram-positive, bacillus bacterium that is associated with severe and often life-threatening infections and inflammation of the colon. The disease processes can range from mild diarrhea to fulminant colitis and death. C. difficile has become the most frequent cause of nosocomial diarrhea in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the infection is responsible for over 14,000 deaths per year. Because of more virulent strains and evolving antimicrobial resistance, the rates of incidence and recurrence have been increasing (1). In addition, C. difficile infection (CDI) is a heavy burden on health care expenses and accounts for an increased use of medical resources. Recent studies have shown that health care costs ranged from $2,871 to $4,846 per case for primary CDI and from $13,655 to $18,067 per case for recurrent CDI (2).

Factors, which are known to alter the normal enteric flora, are associated with risk of C. difficile colonization (3). Although the predominant risk factor among them is associated with antibiotic therapy (4), other postulated risk factors such as, advanced age, chronic illnesses or comorbidities, hospitalizations, non-surgical gastrointestinal procedures, chemotherapy, and other immunosuppressants, play a major role in altering the flora and subsequent acquisition of CDI (5). There have been multiple publications that have demonstrated the association of these different variables with the acquisition of CDI and subsequent re-infections; however, the use of an organized machine learning, sensitivity analysis approach, such as a Random Forest (RF) statistical model, has not been used. In our study, we emulated the techniques of Amalakuhan et al. (6) and the prediction model they created using an RF model in predicting patients at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. We employed the RF machine learning algorithm to predict C. difficile recurrence (CDR).

Methodology

Definitions

‘Recurrence of C. difficile’ was defined as confirmed presence of C. difficile toxin via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) after complete resolution of diarrhea for a minimum of 2 weeks and a maximum of 6 months and the completion of antibiotic therapy (5, 7).

RF is a statistical model used for classification and regression which works by using input variables to create an output of regression trees. The mode class of all of the classes of the individual trees is then chosen as the output and is used to determine the variables of interest.

Regression trees are binary trees with nodes that correspond to different values in the input variables. These trees are developed using a training set. At each node or branch, the RF algorithm searches for a value that best separates all instances within that node based on the outcome of interest. If the instance chosen is not able to be separated further, then it is called a terminal node. This process is repeated until all instances are terminal nodes (6).

Variables

The variables used in this study were selected after an extensive review of literature and only the most common comorbidities found in patients with CDI and re-infection were included. Among the numerous existing variables, 25 of the most strongly associated variables have been selected. Variables which were not found to be significant have not been included in order to optimize the RF algorithm. Table 1 depicts the significant variables used in the RF model in this study.

Table 1.

Explanatory variables used in this study

Age	Smoking
Coronary artery disease	Low-risk antibiotics
Chronic kidney disease	High-risk antibiotics
Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancy	H2 antagonist
Gender	Alcohol use
Peptic ulcer disease	No GI surgery
Inflammatory bowel disease	One GI surgery
Immunosuppression	Two GI surgeries
Race	Hypertension
Gastro esophageal reflux disease	Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) 20 mg
Corticosteroids	PPI 40 mg
Chemotherapy	PPI 80 mg
Diabetes

Sample selection

A retrospective chart review was performed on patients diagnosed with CDI based on International Classification of Disease (ICD-9) codes. The selection of the study population, selection criteria, and sampling were all performed subject to the approval of the institutional review board (IRB).

Inclusion criteria

Patients diagnosed with CDI via PCR between February 2009 and June 2013.

Exclusion criteria

1. Patients with recurrence within 2 weeks or after 6 months of initial CDI

2. Patients with documented ‘non-compliance’ to prescribed medical therapy

Sample size

Using these criteria, data of 200 randomized patients diagnosed with CDI were collected. Two patients were subsequently removed due to our set exclusion criteria. The prevalence of CDR within the randomly selected sample size was 15% (30 patients).

Data analysis

RF statistical analysis and randomization was performed using the SPM Salford Predictive Modeler^® version 6.0 (Salford System, San Diego, CA). The predictive model was designed by professors Leo Breiman and Adele Cutler of the University of California, Los Angeles. Our sample population was randomly separated into two distinct groups, a training group and a validation group. The training group comprised 70% of our patients. The remaining 30% were placed in the validation group. The training group was used essentially to create our ‘learning algorithm’, which comprised 2,000 regression trees. Each tree comprised binary nodes or branches, which contribute their results to the variables of interest. At each node, a variable is tested (e.g., 80 mg PPI). At that node, the data entered will either fall into a branch of CDR or no recurrence. Through the 2,000 regression trees, the outcome of interest (CDR) will be distinguished. The cumulative predictions created in the 2,000 trees will create the probability of the patient having a recurrence of an initial CDI.

The training and testing groups, although broken into two groups, still allow for all patients in the sample selection to be run through the predictive model. The 30% represents only one validation group in one of the 500 runs. This group essentially can be completely different from one run to the next. This statement remains the same for the 70% training group. As opposed to Amalakuhan's study, which used a 75% training group to 25% validation group distribution split (8, 9), we used an experimental 70%:30% distributional split. This allowed an additional 10 patients to our validation group, presumptively strengthening the end result and the predictive probability of our model.

Within both the training and validation groups, the predicted probability of determining the patients who had CDR was almost completely equal. The RF model using the indices as set above was run 500 times, and for each of these 500 runs, the accuracy of the predictive model was assessed by calculating the sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC) for receiver operating characteristic, and precision (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.

Receiver operating curve with area under curve.

Results

Our population consisted of 198 patients from two sister hospitals in a community setting with a documented CDI. Of those patients, 30 had CDR, giving us a recurrence rate of approximately 15%. The mean age of the patients in the recurrence group was 70.8 (SD 17), while the mean age of the population without recurrence was 68.7 (SD 17.7). The majority of the population was Caucasian (88.4%) with the remainder of the population being either African American (6.6%) or other races (5.0%) (Table 2).

Table 2.

Demographic and risk factor table

	No recurrence		Recurrence		p
Total number of patients	168		30
Demographics
Age (mean, SD, range)	68.7 (17.7)	3–96	70.8 (17.0)	28–93	0.5339
Male (number,%)	62	36.69	17	56.67	0.0393
Race
Caucasian	151	89.35%	25	83.33%	0.3544
African American	9	5.33%	4	13.33%	0.1126
Others	9	5.33%	1	3.33%	1
Risk factors
Smoking	60	35.50%	8	26.67%	0.3364
ETOH	43	25.44%	8	26.67%	0.8876
Hypertension	133	78.70%	22	73.33%	0.5141
CAD	78	46.15%	12	40.00%	0.5326
CKD	51	30.18%	11	36.67%	0.4794
Diabetes	56	33.14%	12	40.00%	0.4651
GERD	46	27.22%	8	26.67%	0.9500
PUD	11	6.51%	3	10.00%	0.4479
IBD	3	1.78%	0	0.00%	1.0000
IBS	6	3.55%	1	3.33%	1.0000
GI cancer	5	2.96%	1	3.33%	1.0000
Immunosuppressed	23	13.61%	4	13.33%	1.0000
Low-risk antibiotics	55	32.54%	11	36.67%	0.6585
High-risk antibiotics	104	61.54%	17	56.67%	0.6145
H2 antagonist	13	7.69%	1	3.33%	0.6988
Corticosteroids	26	15.38%	9	30.00%	0.0527
Chemotherapy	14	8.28%	1	3.33%	0.7022
Number of GI surgeries
One	35	20.71%	12	40.00%	0.0219
Two or more	16	9.47%	3	10.00%	1.0000
None	118	69.82%	15	50.00%	0.0336
PPI dose
20 mg	16	9.47%	4	13.33%	0.5126
40 mg	117	69.23%	16	53.33%	0.0883
80 mg	1	0.59%	3	10.00%	0.0113

Our final model based on 500 runs of the RF produced the following results: sensitivity, 83.3%; specificity, 63.1%; overall correct predicted percentage, 66.1%; and AUC, 82.6%

Discussion

CDI is a growing concern in the health care system, and it represents one of the most difficult challenges faced by clinicians. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the number of C. difficile-related hospital stays per 100,000 population has been steadily increasing, peaking at 114.6 in 2008 from a low of 33.2 in 1993 (10). The major problem associated with C. difficile infection is the high rate of recurrence of 20 to 35%. If a recurrence has occurred, the chances of a second recurrence further increases to 45–65% (11, 12). CDR increases mortality and morbidity, length of hospital stay, health care costs, and utilization of other health care resources. It also puts additional burden on the patient's quality of life and their families. Previous studies have also documented that CDR resulted in 265 additional days of vancomycin use and 19.7 days of metronidazole use (13). Although some studies have looked at the causes, there is little consensus on causes of CDR. Previous studies have identified the following associated risk factors: age, Horn's index, proton pump inhibitor use, antibiotic use, alteration of colonic microflora, initial disease severity, and hospital exposure (14–18).

For this study, we created an RF predictive model using multiple well-known risk factors associated with CDI identified in previous studies. After 500 runs of the tree-based algorithm, the RF model performed extremely well in classifying predictors of CDR versus non-recurrent cases. The overall accuracy of our RF model was 66.1% with a sensitivity and specificity of 83.3 and 63.1%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating curve was 82.6%, which is comparable to other strong models. Our literature review did not reveal many studies using prediction models to identify CDR. Hu et al. (15) showed similar results. Our study expanded on their work by using a larger amount of patients that were followed for a longer period of time of 3 years. In addition, specific important co-variables such as PPI's chemotherapy, corticosteroids, and antibiotic use were used in our study (19). We also had a substantially higher sensitivity and AUC.

The RF has already been used successfully in other studies in determining predictors in various chronic and acute conditions. The study done by Amalakuhan et al. (6) previously demonstrated that the RF was excellent at predicting factors associated with readmissions for COPD exacerbation. A well-documented study by Adrienne Chu demonstrated that the RF machine learning algorithm outperformed six other prediction models in determining the cause of gastrointestinal bleeding (20). The models that were outperformed included well-known algorithms such as the support vector machine, boosting, artificial neural network, linear discriminant analysis, and logistic regression.

One of the major strengths of our study was that it contained a large number of patients who were followed for several years (2009–2013). We also used a large number of significant variables in this study to create the prediction model. The study had a high AUC and high sensitivity. One of the major limitations of our study was that the majority of our sample population was Caucasian.

Conclusion

C. difficile is a growing problem in the hospital and community setting. The recurrent nature of infection is worrisome since repeated use of antibiotics against the same strain of bacteria may lead to resistance mechanisms. In this study, we used the RF machine learning algorithm to create a strong prediction model with high sensitivity to predict CDR. In the evolving field of medical informatics, the use of such learning algorithm models can be used in risk factor stratification for hospitalized patients. If patients at risk for CDR could be accurately identified, specific management strategies could be developed resulting in better management, decreased morbidity and mortality, better health care resource utilization, and decreased length of hospital stay. We believe that the advantages offered by the RF makes it the ideal tool for this task.

Conflicts of interest and funding

The authors report that there are no conflicts of interest in publishing this paper. No private funding was received for this research project.