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Cross-sectional study of the prevalence, causes and management of hospital-onset diarrhoea.
J Hosp Infect. 2019 May 08;:
Authors: Mawer D, Byrne F, Drake S, Brown C, Prescott A, Warne B, Bousfield R, Skittrall JP, Ramsay I, Somasunderam D, Bevan M, Coslett J, Rao J, Stanley P, Kennedy A, Dobson R, Long S, Obisanya T, Esmailji T, Petridou C, Saeed K, Brechany K, Davis-Blue K, O'Horan H, Wake B, Martin J, Featherstone J, Hall C, Allen J, Johnson G, Hornigold C, Amir N, Henderson K, McClements C, Liew I, Deshpande A, Vink E, Trigg D, Guilfoyle J, Scarborough M, Scarborough C, Wong TN, Walker T, Fawcett N, Morris G, Tomlin K, Grix C, O'Cofaigh E, McCaffrey D, Cooper M, Corbett K, French K, Harper S, Hayward C, Reid M, Whatley V, Winfield J, Hoque S, Kelly L, King I, Bradley A, McCullagh B, Hibberd C, Merron M, McCabe C, Horridge S, Taylor J, Koo S, Elsanousi F, Saunders R, Lim F, Bond A, Stone S, Milligan ID, Mack DJ, Nagar A, West RM, Wilcox MH, Kirby A, Sandoe JA
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The National Health Service in England advises hospitals collect data on hospital-onset diarrhoea (HOD). Contemporaneous data on HOD are lacking.
AIM: To investigate prevalence, aetiology and management of HOD on medical, surgical and elderly-care wards.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study in a volunteer sample of UK hospitals, which collected data on one winter and one summer day in 2016. Patients admitted ≥72 hours were screened for HOD (definition: ≥2 episodes of Bristol Stool Type 5-7 the day before the study, with diarrhoea-onset >48 hours after admission). Data on HOD aetiology and management were collected prospectively.
FINDINGS: Data were collected on 141 wards in 32 hospitals (16 acute, 16 teaching). Point-prevalence of HOD was 4.5% (230/5142 patients; 95% CI 3.9-5.0%). Teaching hospital HOD prevalence (5.9%, 95% CI 5.1-6.9%) was twice that of acute hospitals (2.8%, 95% CI 2.1-3.5%; odds ratio 2.2, 95% CI 1.7-3.0). At least one potential cause was identified in 222/230 patients (97%): 107 (47%) had a relevant underlying condition, 125 (54%) were taking antimicrobials, and 195 (85%) other medication known to cause diarrhoea. 9/75 tested patients were Clostridium difficile toxin positive (4%). 80 (35%) patients had a documented medical assessment of the diarrhoea. Documentation of HOD in medical notes correlated with testing for C. difficile (78% of those tested versus 38% not tested, p<0.001). 144 (63%) patients were not isolated following diarrhoea onset.
CONCLUSION: HOD is a prevalent symptom affecting thousands of patients across the UK health system each day. Most patients have multiple potential causes of HOD, mainly iatrogenic, but only a third had medical assessment. Most were not tested for C. difficile and were not isolated.
PMID: 31077777 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]