A study to assess the prevalence and risk factors for Clostridioides difficile infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in a tertiary care hospital in Northern India

The prevalence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is on rise among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study sought to describe the prevalence and risk factors of CDI in patients with IBD as compared to non-IBD controls. This was a prospective study conducted at a Department of Microbiology in collaboration with a Department of Gastroenterology. The patients with IBD and controls without IBD presenting with diarrhea were included in the study. The screening test for C. difficile infection was done by glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) assay and toxin detection by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Anaerobic culture for C. difficile was done on a selective cycloserine cefoxitin fructose agar and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was done for Toxin A (TcdA) and Toxin B (TcdB) gene detection. C. difficile infection was confirmed if GDH and toxin ELISA or PCR were positive. Data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0.The numerical variables were presented by means and standard deviations. Comparison of continuous variables was done using Student’s t-test. Categorical variables were analyzed by Chi square test. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. A total of 160 cases and 112 age- and gender-matched control were included in IBD group and nonIBD group, respectively. Only one culture was positive, 12 and six were positive for GDH ELISA and TcdA and TcdB ELISA, respectively, and 7 were positive by PCR for toxin genes. The factors found significantly associated with CDI were proton-pump inhibitors use (P = 0.001), levofloxacin (P =0.001), and azathioprine (P =0.042). Using PCR as a reference method for C. difficile toxin detection, the sensitivity, and specificity of GDH ELISA and ELISA for toxins were 100%, 96.8% and 85.7%, and 100%, respectively. The prevalence of CDI among patients with IBD has been found to be low, that is (only 4.4%) in this study population.