Clostridioides difficile Infection in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients: Comparisons of Epidemiology, Testing, and Treatment from 2013 to 2019

To compare the incidence, epidemiology, testing patterns, treatment, and outcomes of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) among hospitalized pediatric patients from 2013 to 2019. The Pediatric Health Information System database was queried for patient admissions (age 0-17 years) with International Classification of Diseases, 9th and 10th edition, codes for diagnoses of CDI with a billing code for a CDI-related antibiotic treatment. We identified 17 142 pediatric patients, representing 23 052 admissions, with CDI. The adjusted annual CDI incidence decreased over the study period from 7.09 cases per 10 000 patient-days (95% CI, 6.15-8.18) in 2013 to 4.89 cases per 10 000 patient-days (95% CI, 4.03-5.93) in 2019 (P