Table 1.
Comparison of Patient Demographics, Comorbidities, and Laboratory Parameters Between Eosinophil Count Groups
| Houston Cohort | Veterans’ Cohort | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covariate | Eosinopenia (n = 132) | Eosinophils Present (n = 556) | P Value | Eosinopenia (n = 67) | Eosinophils Present (n = 723) | P Value |
| Age, mean (±SD), y | 65.5 (18.7) | 63.7 (17.7) | .32 | 67 (12) | 66 (12) | .33 |
| Female, No. (%) | 71 (53.8) | 318 (57.2) | .48 | 3 (4.4) | 38 (5.3) | .78 |
| Race/ethnicity, No. (%) | .04 | |||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 94 (71.2) | 320 (57.6) | 43 (67.2) | 459 (65.9) | .84 | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 18 (13.6) | 114 (20.5) | 19 (29.7) | 186 (26.7) | .61 | |
| Hispanic | 14 (10.6) | 98 (17.6) | 2 (3.1) | 25 (3.6) | .84 | |
| Asian | 2 (1.5) | 7 (1.3) | 0 (0.0) | 26 (3.7) | .03 | |
| Othera | 4 (3.0) | 17 (3.1) | ||||
| CCI, median (IQR) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–4) | .09 | 3 (2–5) | 3 (1–6) | .79 |
| SOT, No. (%) | 8 (6.1) | 57 (10.3) | .14 | 2 (3.0) | 6 (0.8) | .16 |
| HSCT, No. (%) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.2) | 1.00 | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | N/A |
| WBC, median (IQR), cells/μL | 12.3 (8.7–20.0) | 10.7 (7.3–15.8) | .001 | 15.4 (10.5–22.0) | 10.6 (7.4–15.1) | <.001 |
| SCr, median (IQR), mg/dL | 1.07 (0.78–1.70) | 1.06 (0.75–2.00) | .88 | 1.4 (1.0–2.3) | 1.2 (0.9–1.9) | .12 |
| Albumin, mean (±SD), g/dL | 3.1 (0.8) | 3.1 (0.7) | .98 | 2.7 (2.3–3.4) | 2.9 (2.4–3.5) | .31 |
| Severe CDI, No. (%) | 73 (55.3) | 289 (52.0) | .49 | 61 (91.0) | 512 (70.8) | <.001 |
| Testing method, No. (%) | .78 | N/A | ||||
| NAAT | 129 (97.7) | 538 (96.8) | 67 (100.0) | 723 (100.0) | ||
| EIA | 3 (2.3) | 18 (3.2) | 0 | 0 | ||
| HO-CDI, No. (%) | 40 (30.3) | 204 (36.7) | .17 | 56 (83.6) | 450 (62.2) | <.001 |
| Recurrent CDI, No. (%)b | 16 (12.1) | 54 (9.7) | .41 | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | N/A |
| History of CDI, No. (%)b | 36 (27.3) | 136 (24.5) | .50 | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | N/A |
| CDT + ribotype, No. (%) | 14 (10.6) | 95 (17.1) | .07 | 13 (19.4) | 214 (29.6) | .07 |
Abbreviations: CCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index; CDI, Clostridioides difficile infection; CDT+, binary toxin–positive; EIA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; HO-CDI, health care facility–onset CDI; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; IQR, interquartile range; NAAT, nucleic acid amplification test; SCr, serum creatinine; SOT, solid organ transplantation; WBC, white blood cell count.
Conversion factors: WBC (109/L) = WBC (cells/μL)/1 000 000; albumin (g/L) = albumin (g/dL)/100; SCr (mg/dL) = SCr (μmol/L)/88.42.
aAmerican Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, other race/ethnicity, or ≥2 races/ethnicities.
bNo patients with a history of CDI were included in the validation cohort.