Risk for Asymptomatic Household Transmission of Clostridioides difficile Infection Associated with Recently Hospitalized Family Members

Abstract

We evaluated whether hospitalized patients without diagnosed Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) increased the risk for CDI among their family members after discharge. We used 2001-2017 US insurance claims data to compare monthly CDI incidence between persons in households with and without a family member hospitalized in the previous 60 days. CDI incidence among insurance enrollees exposed to a recently hospitalized family member was 73% greater than enrollees not exposed, and incidence increased with length of hospitalization among family members. We identified a dose-response relationship between total days of within-household hospitalization and CDI incidence rate ratio. Compared with persons whose family members were hospitalized <1 day, the incidence rate ratio increased from 1.30 (95% CI 1.19-1.41) for 1-3 days of hospitalization to 2.45 (95% CI 1.66-3.60) for >30 days of hospitalization. Asymptomatic C. difficile carriers discharged from hospitals could be a major source of community-associated CDI cases.

Keywords: Bacteria; C. difficile; Clostridioides difficile; United States; antimicrobial resistance; asymptomatic infections; enteric infections; family transmission; hospitalization; patient discharge; risk factors.