The Effect of Probiotic Yogurt on the Frequency of Clostridium difficile in Old Hospitalized Patients

 Clostridium difficile is the main cause of Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea (AAD) in the hospital setting. Today, the use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of AAD and colitis is increasing. In this study, we investigated the effect of probiotic yogurt on the frequency of Clostridium difficile.

 In this randomized clinical trial study, 132 elderly patients admitted to the infectious ward of Vali-e-Asr Hospital in Arak, who were under antibiotic treatment, were randomly divided into two groups, case (yogurt probiotic, 200 mg/d for 8 days) and control group (common yogurt). All patients were trained about the signs of colitis. We evaluated the colitis signs and the presence of Clostridium difficile by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and compared them between the groups. The obtained data were analyzed with appropriate statistical tests in SPSS V. 16.

 The Research Ethics Committee of Arak University of Medical Sciences approved this study (Code: 10-165-93). Also, it was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (Code: IRCT2016092229915N1).

 Clostridium difficile was detected in 4 (6.1%) patients of the case, and 1 (1.5%) patient of the control group, at the beginning of the study. There was no significant difference between the frequency of Clostridium difficile and colitis syndrome between two groups at the end of the study (P>0.05).

 Probiotic yogurt has no significant effect in reducing the frequency of Clostridium difficile and colitis syndrome in our study.