• Mitchell Gil Maltenfort, Mohammad R Rasouli, Todd A Morrison, and Javad Parvizi.
• The Rothman Institute of Orthopedics at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, 925 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA.
• Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. 2013 Oct 1;471(10):3178-85.

BackgroundThe prevalence of Clostridium difficile colitis is reportedly increasing in surgical patients and can negatively impact their outcome. However, as yet there are no clear estimates of the C difficile infection colitis rate and its consequences among patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty (TJA).Questions/PurposesWe asked: (1) What is the rate of C difficile colitis in TJA patients? (2) What are the risk factors of C difficile colitis in these patients? And (3) what is the effect of C difficile colitis on length of stay, in-hospital mortality, and estimated total charges?MethodsUsing ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes, we queried the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database for patients undergoing TJA for the years 2002 to 2010. Demographic data, comorbidities, occurrence of C difficile colitis, length of hospital stay, mortality, and hospital charges were extracted. Logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of C difficile colitis and its impact on in-hospital mortality.ResultsThe incidence of C difficile remained less than 0.6% during the study period. Revision TJAs (odds ratio=6.9 and 4.4 for hip and knee, respectively) and number of comorbidities (odds ratio=1.5) increased risk of C difficile colitis. C difficile increased length of hospital stay by a week, hospital charges by USD 40,000, and in-hospital mortality to 4.66% from 0.24%.ConclusionsUsing lower and fewer doses of antibiotics in revision TJAs and among patients with many comorbidities may diminish risk of C difficile colitis and its consequent mortality.Level Of EvidenceLevel II, prognostic study. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

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