A Surgical Clostridium-Associated Risk of Death Score Predicts Mortality After Colectomy for Clostridium difficile

BACKGROUND: A Clostridium difficile-associated risk of death score was recently developed and validated by using a national cohort of both nonsurgical and surgical patients admitted with C difficile infection. However, risk scores specifically derived from surgical cohorts and designed for patients with C difficile infection are currently unavailable. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a risk of death score for patients with C difficile infection who are being considered for total abdominal colectomy because of the failure of medical therapy. DESIGN: This is a retrospective cohort study. SETTINGS: This study was conducted with the use of a national database. PATIENTS: All patients undergoing total colectomy for C difficile infection were identified in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database from 2005 to 2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Variables similar to the original scoring system were used in multivariable analyses to determine the risk of 30-day mortality for patients, and a model was constructed to estimate the predicted probability of mortality after surgery. RESULTS: Of 532 patients who underwent surgery, 32.7% experienced 30-day postoperative mortality. Patient covariates associated with significantly increased mortality included age greater than 80 years (OR 5.5, p = 0.003), need for preoperative mechanical ventilation (OR 3.1, p

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