Objectives: To assess the prevalence of intestinal colonization with Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) at admission to acute rehabilitation and to identify risk factors associated with colonization.
Design: Case-control study.
Participants: Consecutive admissions to 2 rehabilitation units (spinal cord injury, brain injury and stroke).
Setting: Free-standing acute rehabilitation facility.
Interventions: Rectal swabs for culture for C. difficile were obtained at admission and cytotoxin assay performed on all culture positive specimens. Rates of colonization with cytotoxic C. difficile were calculated. Charts were reviewed for medical and demographic factors that may have predisposed patients to colonization, and for possible symptoms at the time of admission.
Main Outcome Measures: Percentage of patients with culture and cytotoxin assay positive for C. difficile. Frequency of specific patient characteristics that could predispose to C. difficile colonization.
Results: Of admission stool samples, 16.4% tested positive for C. difficile; none of these patients had been identified as colonized before admission. No patients were discordant for C. difficile positivity on culture and presence of a toxigenic strain. No medical or demographic factors were associated with increased risk of colonization, including age (t(52)=-.748, P=.458, not significant [NS]), diarrhea within 24 hours of admission (chi(1)(2) test=.001, P=.973 [NS]), or use of oral or intravenous antibiotics at admission (chi(1)(2) test=.044, P=.834 [NS]).
Conclusions: Patients admitted to acute rehabilitation may have an elevated rate of intestinal colonization with C. difficile without having clinical symptoms. No medical or demographic characteristics were found to be predictive of colonization, however, most of the patients admitted had more than 1 factor that may have increased their susceptibility to infection with this organism. Inadvertent transfer of this organism within the rehabilitation setting may occur because asymptomatic colonization is not recognized.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2006.03.020 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Physiology and Pathophysiology of Marathon Running: A narrative Review.
Sports Med Open
January 2025
Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Background: Marathon training and running have many beneficial effects on human health and physical fitness; however, they also pose risks. To date, no comprehensive review regarding both the benefits and risks of marathon running on different organ systems has been published.
Main Body: The aim of this review was to provide a comprehensive review of the benefits and risks of marathon training and racing on different organ systems.
Patients with neurological or psychiatric complications of COVID-19 have worse long-term functional outcomes: COVID-CNS-A multicentre case-control study.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Clinical Infection, Microbiology & Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
It is established that patients hospitalised with COVID-19 often have ongoing morbidity affecting activity of daily living (ADL), employment, and mental health. However, little is known about the relative outcomes in patients with COVID-19 neurological or psychiatric complications. We conducted a UK multicentre case-control study of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 (controls) and those who developed COVID-19 associated acute neurological or psychiatric complications (cases).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntensive care unit acquired weakness and physical rehabilitation in the ICU.
BMJ
January 2025
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine; and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Approximately half of critically ill adults experience intensive care unit acquired weakness (ICUAW). Patients who develop ICUAW may have negative outcomes, including longer duration of mechanical ventilation, greater length of stay, and worse mobility, physical functioning, quality of life, and mortality. Early physical rehabilitation interventions have potential for improving ICUAW; however, randomized trials show inconsistent findings on the efficacy of these interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEffect of SARS-CoV2 Infection on Endovascular Thrombectomy Outcomes - Data from the Florida Stroke Registry.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol
January 2025
From the University of Miami Department of Neurology (H.B.F., I.R., R.Y., A.A., M.S., Y.H., A.A., C.M.G., V.J.D.B., R.M.S., T.R., H.G., J.G.R., N.A.), Miami, FL, USA; University of South Florida Department of Neurology (D.Z.R. A.J.), Tampa, FL, USA.
Background And Purpose: Endovascular thrombectomy outcomes are impacted by changes in stroke systems of care. During the pandemic, SARS-CoV2 positive status had major implications on hospital arrival and treatment models of non-COVID related hospital admissions. Using the Florida Stroke Registry, we compared the rates of in-hospital death and discharge outcomes of patients treated with endovascular thrombectomy who tested positive for SARS-CoV2 infection during their hospitalization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsciousness trajectories and functional independence after acute brain injury in children with prolonged disorder of consciousness.
Dev Med Child Neurol
January 2025
Department of Rehabilitation, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Aim: To explore the trajectories of consciousness recovery and prognosis-associated predictors in children with prolonged disorder of consciousness (pDoC).
Method: This single-centre, retrospective, observational cohort involved 134 (87 males, 47 females) children diagnosed with pDoC and hospitalized at the Department of Rehabilitation at the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University in China. The median onset age was 30 (interquartile range [IQR] 18-54) months, with onset ages ranging from 3 to 164 months.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!