Is Increased BMI a Risk Factor for Developing Severe Clostridioides Difficile Infection? A Retrospective Study

Obesity is associated with a relative increase in bacterial phyla like firmicutes, which helps in the colonization of Clostridioides Difficile. Individuals with increased BMI (greater than 25) are more susceptible to severe Clostridioides Difficile infection (CDI). Data was collected by retrospective chart query. Severe CDI was defined as a white blood cell count of more than 15,000 (x 109 cells/L) or serum creatinine levels greater than 1.5 mg/dL. To examine the association between the primary outcome (severe CDI) and BMI, the factors of age, gender, albumin level, ICU admission, antibiotic use within 3 months of admission, diabetes, and hypertension were also considered. Patients with chronic kidney disease, end-stage liver disease, pregnancy, inflammatory bowel disease, previous gastrointestinal surgeries, active malignancy, and immunosuppressed were excluded. 219 patients were included in the final study. Of these 52.8% of patients had severe CDI, and 47.2% had non-severe CDI. Compared to normal-weight patients, risk of severe CDI was not influenced by being obese (OR = 1.26, p = 0.5119), overweight (OR = 1.65, p = 0.21), or underweight (OR = 1.05, p = 0.9383). Males had higher odds of having severe CDI when compared with females (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.03 to 3.01, p = 0.0395). Albumin levels greater than 3.0 mg/dL were associated with lower odds of having severe CDI (OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.27 to 0.62, p< 0.0001). BMI of an individual does not appear to be associated with the severity of CDI.