{"doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2024.08.020","title":"Retrospective, propensity score--matched study examining the relationship between frailty and Clostridioides difficile infection in a national cohort of US veterans","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Frailty is often more predictive of disease and mortality compared with chronological age. This study determined the impact of frailty on Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) risk and outcomes in a national veteran population. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of CDI and control veteran inpatients and outpatients from fiscal year 2003 to 2018. Baseline frailty was presented as the Veterans Affairs (VA) Frailty Index. Propensity score--matched analyses were conducted to compare CDI risk, CDI health outcomes, and 1-year new-onset frailty-associated conditions. RESULTS: A total of 11,451 CDI and 11,451 matched control patients were included. Baseline frailty conditions were more common among CDI patients, especially involuntary weight loss (6.0% vs 3.4%, P < .001) and anemia (24.6% vs 18.7%, P < .001). VA Frailty Index was significantly higher for CDI patients (0.13 vs 0.11, P = .019). Frail CDI patients were more likely to experience 30-day mortality (11.3% vs 1.1%, P < .001) and 60-day CDI recurrence (20.4% vs 16.3%, P < .001) compared with non-/prefrail CDI patients. At 1year, CDI patients were significantly more likely to be categorized as frail (19.6% vs 17.0%, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the potential association between frailty and CDI risk and health outcomes, as well as new-onset frailty diagnoses in patients who develop CDI.","journal":"American Journal of Infection Control","year":2024,"id":468945,"datarank":0.20794415416798362,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"self_citation_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":35.18991258606018,"corpus_rank":8206,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":2,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":true,"is_dataset_confidence":0.6491,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1135555,"name":"Kelsey A. Strey","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1302389,"name":"Esther L Albuquerque","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1302390,"name":"Damaris Jacota","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":604050,"name":"Xavier Jones","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":936760,"name":"Joseph J. Carreno","orcid":"0000-0001-9272-6973","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":339975,"name":"Kelly R. Reveles","orcid":"0000-0001-8880-4879","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":34,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:05:23.500722Z","pmid":"39197729","pmcid":"PMC13273625","fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}