ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1571199
Analysis of clinical characteristics and risk factors of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection in children
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Pediatrics, Tianjin Children's Hospital, Tianjin, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, Tianjin Children's Hospital Tianjin,China, Tianjin, China
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Objective: To analyze clinical characteristics and risk factors for recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in children. Methods: Clinical data were retrospectively collected from all children (<18 years) hospitalized with CDI at Tianjin Children's Hospital between September 2018 and December 2023. Results: In total, 115 patients (66 males and 49 females;) were divided into recurrence (n=38) and non-recurrence (n=77) groups. Logistic regression was used to compare clinical data and analyze risk factors for CDI recurrence. The recurrent CDI(rCDI) and non-recurrence groups had statistically significant differences in terms of age, comorbidities, prior antibiotic exposure, mode of CDI acquisition (hospital vs. community), colonoscopy(the rationale for colonoscopy data inclusion-diagnosis confirmation or ruling out other causes), treatment selection, levels of interleukin-6 and creatine kinase, and body mass index (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that healthcare-associated CDI (odds ratio [OR] = 14.754, 95% confidence interval [CI]:4.568-47.650, p = 0.000) is an independent risk factor for CDI recurrence in children (p < 0.05), with sensitivity and specificity of 73.7% and 87.0%, respectively. Conclusion: Healthcare-associated CDI (HA-CDI)is an independent risk factor for pediatric rCDI, and the introduction of this indicator in diagnosis has certain accuracy in predicting rCDI.
Keywords: Children, Clostridioides difficile infection, Recurrence, Clinical features, Risk factors
Received: 05 Feb 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Wang, Li, Wang and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yu Zhao, Department of Gastroenterology, Tianjin Children's Hospital Tianjin,China, Tianjin, China
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