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Asymptomatic and yet C. difficile-toxin positive? Prevalence and risk factors of carriers of toxigenic Clostridium difficile among geriatric in-patients

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Geriatrics, November 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (74th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (67th percentile)

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Title
Asymptomatic and yet C. difficile-toxin positive? Prevalence and risk factors of carriers of toxigenic Clostridium difficile among geriatric in-patients
Published in
BMC Geriatrics, November 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12877-016-0358-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Klaus Nissle, Daniel Kopf, Alexander Rösler

Abstract

Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) are the most frequent cause of diarrhoea in hospitals. Geriatric patients are more often affected by the condition, by a relapse and complications. Therefore, a crucial question is how often colonization with toxigenic Clostridium difficile strains occurs in elderly patients without diarrhoea and whether there is a "risk pattern" of colonized patients that can be defined by geriatric assessment. Furthermore, the probability for those asymptomatic carriers to develop a symptomatic infection over time has not been sufficiently explored. We performed a cohort study design to assess the association of clinical variables with Clostridium difficile colonization. The first stool sample of 262 consecutive asymptomatic patients admitted to a geriatric unit was tested for toxigenic Clostridium difficile using PCR (GeneXpert, Cepheid). A comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) including Barthel Index, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and hand grip-strength was performed. In addition, Charlson Comorbidity Index, body mass index, number and length of previous hospital stays, previous treatment with antibiotics, institutionalization, primary diagnoses and medication were recorded and evaluated as possible risk factors of colonization by means of binary logistic regression. Secondly, we explored the association of C. difficile colonization with subsequent development of CDI during hospital stay. At admission, 43 (16.4%) patients tested positive for toxin B by PCR. Seven (16.3%) of these colonized patients developed clinical CDI during hospital stay, compared to one out of 219 patients with negative or invalid PCR testing (Odds ratio 12,3; Fisher's exact test: p = 0.000). Overall, 7 out of 8 (87.5%) CDI patients had been colonized at admission. Risk factors of colonization with C. difficile were a history of CDI, previous antibiotic treatment and hospital stays. The parameters of the CGA were not significantly associated with colonization. Colonization with toxigenic Clostridium difficile strains occurs frequently in asymptomatic patients admitted to a geriatric unit. Previous CDI, antibiotic exposure and hospital stay, but not clinical variables such as CGA, are the main factors associated with asymptomatic Clostridium difficile carriage. Colonization is a crucial risk factor for subsequent development of symptomatic CDI.

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The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 8 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 54 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 54 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 8 15%
Student > Master 6 11%
Professor 4 7%
Student > Postgraduate 4 7%
Professor > Associate Professor 4 7%
Other 12 22%
Unknown 16 30%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 14 26%
Nursing and Health Professions 5 9%
Immunology and Microbiology 5 9%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 2 4%
Psychology 2 4%
Other 9 17%
Unknown 17 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 November 2016.
All research outputs
#4,685,882
of 22,901,818 outputs
Outputs from BMC Geriatrics
#1,212
of 3,208 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#76,650
of 306,450 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Geriatrics
#12
of 37 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,901,818 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 79th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,208 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 306,450 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 37 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its contemporaries.