STUDY: Opioid medication may reduce body's ability to fight C. diff infection

Caption

New research from the University of Georgia suggests that opioid use could make patients more vulnerable to infections.

Credit: (AP Photo/David Goldman)

When Pooja Gokhale, a doctoral candidate in University of Georgia's College of Pharmacy, found hints of a link between opioids and severe infection, she led a meta-analysis that examined four studies of almost 120,000 hospitalized patients. 

The researchers found that about 31% of patients who were prescribed and taking opioids caught Clostridioides difficile, also known as C. diff, compared to 17% of patients who weren’t using opioids.

About 500,000 people every year get the highly contagious bacteria that infect the colon, and it’s especially common in hospitals and nursing homes. The illness causes severe diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. In the most serious cases, C. diff can even lead to death.

Opioids, which are used to treat pain symptoms, affect the gut microbiome and cause dysbiosis and cause immunosuppression, which increases the susceptibility of the body to infections in general, Gokhale said.

These risks may be much greater in older adult patients who are immunocompromised and have other comorbidities such as renal or liver disease. 

"So, clinicians need to be aware that the risk might be higher in such patients and need to consider that factor when prescribing opioids and also monitor patients on opioids for any signs and symptoms of C. diff," she said.

The study was published in the American Journal of Infection Control.