clostridium difficile infection among hospitalized chronic hepatitis b virus-infected patients in a chinese hospital

Background: liver disease represents a risk factor for clostridium difficile infection (cdi). however, cdi predisposition and its incidence in patients with chronic hepatitis b (chb) have not been well-characterized. objectives: this study aimed at determining the incidence and risk factors of cdi in chb patients without cirrhosis. methods: a retrospective case-control study was conducted on hospitalized patients in a chinese tertiary hospital between june 2010 and june 2016. results: a total of 105 chb patients without cirrhosis were included in the present study. among these patients, 35 (33%) patients developed hospital-acquired cdi. a total of 35 toxigenic c. difficile strains were assigned to 15 different sts by multi-locus sequence typing (mlst). multivariate analysis indicated that prolonged hospital stay (or: 1.045; 95% ci: 1.006 to 1.086) and higher charlson scores on admission (or: 3.063; 95% ci: 1.602 to 5.857) were independent factors for the development of cdi among chb patients without cirrhosis. conclusions: a high incidence of cdi was detected in this cohort of chb patients. both the prolonged hospital stay and higher charlson scores made chb patients more susceptible to hospital-acquired cdi. greater emphasis on infection control measures and antimicrobial stewardship in patients with chb during hospital admission is needed.