Trends and Disparities in Outcomes of Clostridioides difficile Infection Hospitalizations in the United States: A Ten-Year Joinpoint Trend Analysis

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the most frequently reported nosocomial infection. This study aimed to describe epidemiological trends, sex, race, and economic disparities in clinical and mortality outcomes among CDI hospitalizations over a decade.Methods: We queried Nationwide Inpatient Sample databases from 2010 to 2019, identified hospitalizations with CDI, and obtained the incidence and admission rate of CDI per 100,000 adult hospitalizations each year. We analyzed trends in mortality rate, mean length of hospital stay (LOS), and mean total hospital charge (THC). We highlighted disparities in outcomes stratified by sex, race, and mean household income quartile.Results: Of the 305 million hospitalizations included in our study, over 3.3 million were complicated by CDI, with 1.01 million principal ad-missions for CDI. Among primary admissions for CDI, the mortality rate decreased from 3.2% in 2010 to 1.4% in 2019. Mean LOS reduced from 6.6 to 5.3 days while mean THC increased from US$40,593 to US$42,934 between 2010 and 2019. Females had a 21% decrease in adjusted odds of mortality compared to males (all P-trends < 0.001). Middle-aged and elderly patients had aOR of 4.96 and 14.74 respectively for mortality when compared to young adults (P < 0.001). Mortality rates showed a steady decline among Whites over the study period. Mean LOS trends were similar across racial subgroups.Conclusions: Outcomes of CDI hospitalizations improved over the studied decade. Older age, male sex, and being from a minority racial group were associated with worse clinical and mortality outcomes. Further studies are needed to elucidate the reasons for these findings.