Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common hospital-associated infection and is linked to increased morbidity, mortality and costs. Asymptomatically colonized patients may act as an infection reservoir and their numbers have been found to exceed symptomatic CDI cases. In addition to higher rates of CDI among children hospitalized with cancer compared to those without an oncologic diagnosis, these patients also experience substantially higher C. difficile colonization rates. However, the current published literature does not adequately address the natural history of C. difficile colonization in this population, in terms of who is at greatest risk for developing colonization, duration of colonization, or progression to CDI.
A retrospective longitudinal cohort study of pediatric oncology patients admitted to the oncology ward at McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) was conducted from September 1 2016 to February 28 2018. Patients who were routinely screened for antibiotic-resistant organisms (AROs) upon admission per hospital policies had their stored samples subsequently tested for asymptomatic carriage of C. difficile. A retrospective analysis was completed to determine predictors of colonization and risk factors for progression to subsequent CDI.
We observed a lower colonization rate than other studies have reported in the literature. Duration of colonization was likely brief and none of the colonized patients subsequently developed CDI. There were no statistically significantly associated predictors for asymptomatic colonization when colonized patients were compared to those who were never colonized. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/24250 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Wong, Jacqueline |
| Contributors | Mertz, Dominik, Health Research Methodology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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