Clostridium difficile colitis following geriatric hip fracture surgery: incidence, trends, and risk factors from 45,910 patients

Purpose Clostridium difficile colitis is a serious complication in elderly patients undergoing surgery. The objectives of this study were: (1) to use a nationwide sample of patients to report the incidence and timing of C. difficile colitis in geriatric patients who underwent surgery for hip fractures, (2) to identify preoperative factors associated with developing C. difficile colitis and mortality. Methods This was a retrospective evaluation of the 2016–2019 ACS Targeted Hip Fracture database merged with the ACS-NSQIP database. Patients undergoing surgery for hip fracture were included. Outcomes studied were incidence, preoperative, and postoperative risk factors for occurrence of C. difficile infection and mortality. Chi-squared tests were used to compare demographics between the patients infected (study) and not infected (control). Logistic regression models were utilized to compute the odds ratios (OR) testing for the association of independent factors on developing C. difficile infection postoperatively and mortality. A statistical threshold was set at p