Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31815650›Full record

ArticleCritical care (London, England)2019

Initial therapy affects duration of diarrhoea in critically ill patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).

Carolin F Manthey, Darja Dranova, Martin Christner, Andreas Drolz, Stefan Kluge, Ansgar W Lohse, Valentin Fuhrmann

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Critical care (London, England), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Management ofEClinicalMedicine · 2025
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Carolin F MantheyFirst Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. cmanthey@uke.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5340-491X
Darja DranovaDepartment of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Martin ChristnerDepartment of Microbiology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Andreas DrolzFirst Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
Stefan KlugeDepartment of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Ansgar W LohseFirst Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
Valentin FuhrmannDepartment of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCritically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are at high risk for developing Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI). Risk factors predicting their mortality or standardized treatment recommendations have not been defined for this cohort. Our goal is to determine outcome and mortality associated risk factors for patients at the ICU with CDI by evaluating clinical characteristics and therapy regimens.

methodsA retrospective single-centre cohort study. One hundred forty-four patients (0.4%) with CDI-associated diarrhoea were included (total 36.477 patients admitted to 12 ICUs from January 2010 to September 2015). Eight patients without specific antibiotic therapy were excluded, so 132 patients were analysed regarding mortality, associated risk factors and therapy regimens using univariate and multivariate regression.

resultsTwenty-eight-day mortality was high in patients diagnosed with CDI (27.3%) compared to non-infected ICU patients (9%). Patients with non CDI-related sepsis (n = 40/132; 30.3%) showed further increase in 28-day mortality (45%; p = 0.003). Initially, most patients were treated with a single CDI-specific agent (n = 120/132; 90.9%), either metronidazole (orally, 35.6%; or IV, 37.1%) or vancomycin (18.2%), or with a combination of antibiotics (n = 12/132; 9.1%). Patients treated with metronidazole IV showed significantly longer duration of diarrhoea > 5 days (p = 0.006). In a multivariate regression model, metronidazole IV as initial therapy was an independent risk factor for delayed clinical cure. Immunosuppressants (p = 0.007) during ICU stay lead to increased 28-day mortality.

conclusionTreatment of CDI with solely metronidazole IV leads to a prolonged disease course in critically ill patients.

Indexed as

Time FactorsAgedAnti-Infective AgentsClostridioides difficileClostridium InfectionsCohort StudiesCritical IllnessDiarrheaFemaleGermanyHumansIntensive Care UnitsMaleMetronidazoleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesAnti-Infective AgentsMetronidazole28-day mortalityClostridioides difficile infection (CDI)ImmunosuppressionIntensive care unit (ICU)MetronidazoleSepsisVancomycin

Identifiers

PMID31815650
PMCPMC6902451

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.