Clostridium Difficile Colitis Mortality Medical Algorithm

Certain factors are associated with increased mortality in patients with Clostridium difficile colitis.

Factors predictive of increased mortality:

(1) serum albumin < 2.5 g/dL on admission

(2) a fall in serum albumin of < 1.1 g/dL at the onset of symptoms

(3) use of 3 or more antibiotics in treatment

(4) persistence of positive Clostridium difficile cytotoxin in the stool after completion of 7 or more days of treatment

Factor	Survivors	Nonsurvivors
low albumin on admission	21%	44%
drop in albumin after onset of colitis	12%	62%
therapy with >=3 antibiotics	31%	72%
persistence of cytotoxin	13%	77%

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Prognostic Criteria of Ramaswamy et al in Clostridium difficile Colitis