OBJECTIVES: To investigate potential predictors of readmission with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (rCDI) after a first hospital stay with CDI.

METHODS: An inception cohort study was performed on an exhaustive health insurance database (Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d’Information - PMSI) and included all patients with at least one hospital stay with CDI over a one-year period in France. Readmissions with rCDI were defined as a novel hospital stay with CDI within 12 weeks following discharge of the index hospitalization. Risk factors for readmission with rCDI were investigated on survivors after the index episode through a bivariate analysis and a multivariate logistic regression. Analyses were focused on the first readmission in patients with multiple readmissions with rCDI.

RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: Hospital readmissions with rCDI are common after a first episode.These results enable to identify high-risk patient subgroups who could gain the largest benefit from secondary prevention strategies.