Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a significant public health threat, associated with antibiotic-induced disruption of the normally protective gastrointestinal microbiota. CDI is thought to occur in two stages: acquisition of asymptomatic colonization from ingesting C. difficile bacteria f...

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Main Authors: Christopher Mitchell, Lindsay T Keegan, Thuy T T Le, Karim Khader, Alexander Beams, Matthew H Samore, Damon J A Toth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306622
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author Christopher Mitchell
Lindsay T Keegan
Thuy T T Le
Karim Khader
Alexander Beams
Matthew H Samore
Damon J A Toth
author_facet Christopher Mitchell
Lindsay T Keegan
Thuy T T Le
Karim Khader
Alexander Beams
Matthew H Samore
Damon J A Toth
author_sort Christopher Mitchell
collection DOAJ
description Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a significant public health threat, associated with antibiotic-induced disruption of the normally protective gastrointestinal microbiota. CDI is thought to occur in two stages: acquisition of asymptomatic colonization from ingesting C. difficile bacteria followed by progression to symptomatic CDI caused by toxins produced during C. difficile overgrowth. The degree to which disruptive antibiotic exposure increases susceptibility at each stage is uncertain, which might contribute to divergent published projections of the impact of hospital antibiotic stewardship interventions on CDI. Here, we model C. difficile transmission and CDI among hospital inpatients, including exposure to high-CDI-risk antibiotics and their effects on each stage of CDI epidemiology. We derive the mathematical relationship, using a deterministic model, between those parameters and observed equilibrium levels of colonization, CDI, and risk ratio of CDI among certain antibiotic-exposed patients relative to patients with no recent antibiotic exposure. We then quantify the sensitivity of projected antibiotic stewardship intervention impacts to alternate assumptions. We find that two key parameters, the antibiotic effects on susceptibility to colonization and to CDI progression, are not identifiable given the data frequently available. Furthermore, the effects of antibiotic stewardship interventions are sensitive to their assumed values. Thus, discrepancies between different projections of antibiotic stewardship interventions may be largely due to model assumptions. Data supporting improved quantification of mechanistic antibiotic effects on CDI epidemiology are needed to understand stewardship effects better.
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spelling doaj-art-87ad571082564b99a4dd94ec0e463c112025-02-12T05:31:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01198e030662210.1371/journal.pone.0306622Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.Christopher MitchellLindsay T KeeganThuy T T LeKarim KhaderAlexander BeamsMatthew H SamoreDamon J A TothClostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a significant public health threat, associated with antibiotic-induced disruption of the normally protective gastrointestinal microbiota. CDI is thought to occur in two stages: acquisition of asymptomatic colonization from ingesting C. difficile bacteria followed by progression to symptomatic CDI caused by toxins produced during C. difficile overgrowth. The degree to which disruptive antibiotic exposure increases susceptibility at each stage is uncertain, which might contribute to divergent published projections of the impact of hospital antibiotic stewardship interventions on CDI. Here, we model C. difficile transmission and CDI among hospital inpatients, including exposure to high-CDI-risk antibiotics and their effects on each stage of CDI epidemiology. We derive the mathematical relationship, using a deterministic model, between those parameters and observed equilibrium levels of colonization, CDI, and risk ratio of CDI among certain antibiotic-exposed patients relative to patients with no recent antibiotic exposure. We then quantify the sensitivity of projected antibiotic stewardship intervention impacts to alternate assumptions. We find that two key parameters, the antibiotic effects on susceptibility to colonization and to CDI progression, are not identifiable given the data frequently available. Furthermore, the effects of antibiotic stewardship interventions are sensitive to their assumed values. Thus, discrepancies between different projections of antibiotic stewardship interventions may be largely due to model assumptions. Data supporting improved quantification of mechanistic antibiotic effects on CDI epidemiology are needed to understand stewardship effects better.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306622
spellingShingle Christopher Mitchell
Lindsay T Keegan
Thuy T T Le
Karim Khader
Alexander Beams
Matthew H Samore
Damon J A Toth
Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.
PLoS ONE
title Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.
title_full Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.
title_fullStr Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.
title_full_unstemmed Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.
title_short Importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of Clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic-exposed patients in healthcare facilities.
title_sort importance of underlying mechanisms for interpreting relative risk of clostridioides difficile infection among antibiotic exposed patients in healthcare facilities
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306622
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