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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Anaerobe. 2021 Apr 14;70:102364. doi: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2021.102364

Table 1.

Characteristics of 833 incident cases of community-onset Clostridioides difficile infection in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, in 2018, according to treatment.

Characteristic Metronidazole
-only (n=207)
Vancomycin-
only (n=355)
P-valuea Combination
(n=199)b
Other
(n=72)c
Age, median (IQR) 58 (37,69) 62 (48,72) <0.01 66 (54,77) 61 (51,70)
Female, N (%) 144 (69.6) 228 (64.2) 0.20 118 (59.3) 47 (65.3)
Race, N (%) <0.01
 White 92 (44.4) 173 (48.7) 115 (57.8) 38 (52.8)
 Black 72 (34.8) 147 (41.1) 73 (36.7) 23 (31.9)
 Other/unknown 43 (21.1) 35 (9.9)
Hispanic, N (%) 6 (2.9) 12 (3.4) 0.75 4 (2.0) 2 (2.8)
Comorbidities, N (%)
 Diabetes mellitus 44 (21.3) 105 (29.6) 0.03 61 (30.7) 12 (16.7)
 CKD 25 (12.1) 87 (24.5) <0.001 51 (25.6) 12 (16.7)
 IBD 8 (3.9) 32 (9.0) 0.02 13 (6.5) 7 (9.7)
 PUD 2 (1.0) 6 (1.7) 0.49 6 (3.0) 1 (1.4)
Case #, N (%) <0.001
 First 199 (96.1) 304 (85.6) 166 (83.4) 50 (69.4)
 Recurrent (#2-6) 8 (3.9) 51 (14.4) 33 (16.6) 22 (30.6)
Epi classd, N (%) <0.001
 CA 176 (85.0) 234 (65.9) 109 (54.8) 51 (70.8)
 HACO 31 (15.0) 121 (34.1) 90 (45.2) 21 (29.2)
Treatment location, N (%) <0.001
 Ambulatory 116 (56.0) 144 (40.6) 15 (7.5) 42 (58.3)
 Hospital-based 91 (44.0) 211 (59.4) 184 (92.5) 30 (41.7)
Quarter of infection, N (%) <0.001
 Q1 (Jan – March) 80 (38.6) 67 (18.9) 47 (23.6) 14 (19.4)
 Q2 (April – June) 61 (29.5) 78 (22.0) 45 (22.6) 15 (20.8)
 Q3 (July – Sep) 36 (17.4) 103 (29.0) 51 (25.6) 21 (29.2)
 Q4 (Oct – Dec) 30 (14.5) 107 (30.1) 56 (28.1) 22 (30.6)
Labs, N (%)
 WBC ≥ 15000/μ L 19 (9.2) 50 (14.1) 0.09 76 (38.2) 11 (15.3)
 WBC ≤ 1000/μ L 1 (0.5) 4 (1.1) 0.66 7 (3.5) 0 (0.0)
 Albumin ≤ 2.5 g/dL 7 (3.4) 39 (11.0) <0.01 57 (28.6) 5 (6.9)
Outcomes, N (%)
 ICU admission 5 (2.4) 25 (7.0) 0.02 41 (20.6) 5 (6.9)
 Death 2 (1.0) 4 (1.1) 1.00 9 (4.5) 4 (5.6)
a

P-value compares values between metronidazole-only and vancomycin-only groups using X2, Fisher’s exact, or Kruskal-Wallis test as appropriate.

b

Both vancomycin and metronidazole, either serial or concurrent.

c

Other antibiotics, fecal microbiota transplant, or no treatment.

d

Determined according to CDC criteria [8].

Abbreviations: CA, community-associated; HACO, healthcare-associated community-onset; CKD, chronic kidney disease; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; ICU, intensive care unit, IQR, interquartile range; PUD, peptic ulcer disease; WBC, white blood cells.