Study Recommends More Effective Antibiotic Stewardship to Reduce Pediatric CDI

​Most cases of pediatric Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are community-associated, and the highest incidence is among children who are 1 to 3 years old, according to the results of a study published online March 3, 2014, in Pediatrics. The study, which evaluated 944 pediatric CDI cases (involving patients age 1 to 17 years) from 10 geographically different areas of the United States from 2010 to 2011, found that 71% of the cases were community-associated. Although the proportion of cases with documented diarrhea (72%) or severe disease (8%) was similar across all age groups, the incidence of infection per 100,000 children was highest among 1-year-olds (66.3). The incidence of infection decreased between the ages of 1 and 6 years from 66.3 to 13.8 per 100,000 children and then increased between the ages of 13 and 17 years from 8.8 to 25.6 per 100,000 children. In addition, antibiotic use during the 14 days prior to stool collection was documented in 33% of the cases across all age groups.