Laxative Use and Testing Delays may Overestimate the True Burden of Clostridium difficile

Laxative Use in the Setting of Positive Testing forClostridium difficileInfection

“…Recent laxative use has been reported in up to 44% of CDI tested specimens 3 7 , 8 Interventions to reduce the testing of inappropriate specimens, including those due to laxative use, have led to a reduction of CDI rates and treatment 9 . We further examined the relationship between laxative use and patients who tested positive for CDI.…”

“…Other studies have reported the association of laxative administration with testing for CDI 3 7 , 8 , 9 We reviewed this association for those patients who tested positive for CDI. Surprisingly, 82 patients (39%) received laxatives within 1 week of CDI diagnosis; 29 (14%) received laxatives (usually ≥2) within 24 hours of positive testing.…”