Statins Improve Clostridium difficile Outcomes

Statins are increasingly recognized to have a positive outcome on a variety of infections, presumably through their anti-inflammatory effect. Does this include Clostridium difficile infection?

To answer this question, researchers in Korea conducted a case-control study involving 1725 consecutive hospitalized patients with diarrhea and positive C. difficile toxin assays, C. difficile cultures, or presence of pseudomembrane on lower endoscopy. After exclusion of 736 patients, researchers compared successful treatment response — resolution of diarrhea and other symptoms within 6 days of receiving metronidazole — between 199 statin users (defined as statin use for ≥12 weeks) and 750 statin nonusers.

In multivariate analysis, successful treatment …