COVID-19-associated deaths were reported in the United States (1). Understanding the demographic and clinical characteristics of decedents could inform medical and public health interventions focused on preventing COVID-19-associated mortality. This report describes decedents with laboratory-confirmed infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using data from 1) the standardized CDC case-report form (case-based surveillance) (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/ reporting-pui.html) and 2) supplementary data (supplemental surveillance), such as underlying medical conditions and location of death, obtained through collaboration between CDC and 16 public health jurisdictions (15 states and New York City). Case-based surveillanceDemographic and clinical data about COVID-19 cases are reported to CDC from 50 states, the District of Columbia, New York City, and U.S. territories using a standardized case-report form (case-based surveillance) or in aggregate. Data on 52,166 deaths from 47 jurisdictions among persons with laboratoryconfirmed COVID-19 were reported individually to CDC via case-based surveillance during February 12-May 18, 2020. Among the 52,166 decedents, 55.4% were male, 79.6% were aged ≥65 years, 13.8% were Hispanic/Latino (Hispanic), 21.0% were black, 40.3% were white, 3.9% were Asian, 0.3% were American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), 0.1% were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (NHPI), 2.6% were multiracial or other race, and race/ethnicity was unknown for 18.0%. (Table 1). Median decedent age was 78 years (interquartile range (IQR) = 67-87 years). Because information about underlying medical conditions was missing for the majority of these decedents (30,725; 58.9%), data regarding medical conditions were not analyzed further using the case-based surveillance data set. Because most decedents reported to the supplementary data program were also reported to case-based surveillance, no statistical comparisons of the decedent characteristics between the data sets were made. * Underlying medical conditions include cardiovascular disease (congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension, cerebrovascular accident/stroke, valvular heart disease, conduction disorders or dysrhythmias, other cardiovascular disease); diabetes mellitus; chronic lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema, asthma, tuberculosis, other chronic lung diseases); immunosuppression (cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, identified as being immunosuppressed); chronic kidney disease (chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease, other kidney diseases); neurologic conditions (dementia, seizure disorder, other neurologic conditions); chronic liver disease (cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis, chronic liver disease, end-stage liver disease, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, other chronic liver diseases); obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m 2 ). Information was collected from decedent medical records or death certificates. ...

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BackgroundAn increasing proportion of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in the United States are community-associated (CA). We conducted a case-control study to identify CA-CDI risk factors.MethodsWe enrolled participants from 10 US sites during October 2014–March 2015. Case patients were defined as persons age ≥18 years with a positive C. difficile specimen collected as an outpatient or within 3 days of hospitalization who had no admission to a health care facility in the prior 12 weeks and no prior CDI diagnosis. Each case patient was matched to one control (persons without CDI). Participants were interviewed about relevant exposures; multivariate conditional logistic regression was performed.ResultsOf 226 pairs, 70.4% were female and 52.2% were ≥60 years old. More case patients than controls had prior outpatient health care (82.1% vs 57.9%; P < .0001) and antibiotic (62.2% vs 10.3%; P < .0001) exposures. In multivariate analysis, antibiotic exposure—that is, cephalosporin (adjusted matched odds ratio [AmOR], 19.02; 95% CI, 1.13–321.39), clindamycin (AmOR, 35.31; 95% CI, 4.01–311.14), fluoroquinolone (AmOR, 30.71; 95% CI, 2.77–340.05) and beta-lactam and/or beta-lactamase inhibitor combination (AmOR, 9.87; 95% CI, 2.76–340.05),—emergency department visit (AmOR, 17.37; 95% CI, 1.99–151.22), white race (AmOR 7.67; 95% CI, 2.34–25.20), cardiac disease (AmOR, 4.87; 95% CI, 1.20–19.80), chronic kidney disease (AmOR, 12.12; 95% CI, 1.24–118.89), and inflammatory bowel disease (AmOR, 5.13; 95% CI, 1.27–20.79) were associated with CA-CDI.ConclusionsAntibiotics remain an important risk factor for CA-CDI, underscoring the importance of appropriate outpatient prescribing. Emergency departments might be an environmental source of CDI; further investigation of their contribution to CDI transmission is needed.

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IMPORTANCETo date, limited information is available on the characteristics of adolescents with e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI).OBJECTIVE To inform public health and clinical practice by describing differences in demographics, substance use behaviors, and clinical characteristics of EVALI among adolescents compared with adults. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSSurveillance data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the 2019 EVALI outbreak were used to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) with 95% CIs and to test differences between 360 hospitalized or deceased adolescents vs 859 young adults and 936 adults with EVALI (N = 2155). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Demographics, substance use behaviors, and clinical characteristics.RESULTS Included in this cross-sectional study were 360 hospitalized or deceased adolescents (age range, 13-17 years; 67.9% male) vs 859 young adults (age range, 18-24 years; 72.4% male) and 936 adults (age range, 25-49 years; 65.6% male) with EVALI. Adolescents diagnosed as having EVALI reported using any nicotine-containing (62.4%), any tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing (81.7%), and both (50.8%) types of e-cigarette or vaping products. Informal sources for obtaining nicotine-containing and THC-containing e-cigarette or vaping products were more commonly reported by adolescents (50.5% for nicotine and 96.5% for THC) than young adults (19.8% for nicotine [aPR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.78-3.46] and 86.9% for THC [aPR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.05-1.18]) or adults (24.3% for nicotine [aPR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.49-2.84] and 75.1% for THC [aPR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.19-1.40]). Mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders were commonly reported; a history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was almost 4 times more likely among adolescents (18.1%) than adults (4.9%) (aPR, 3.74; 95% CI,. A history of asthma was more likely to be reported among adolescents (43.6%) than adults (28.3%) (aPR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.14-2.05). Gastrointestinal and constitutional symptoms were more common in adolescents (90.9% and 97.3%, respectively) than adults (75.3% and 94.5%, respectively) (aPR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.13-1.28 and aPR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.06, respectively). Because of missing data, percentages may not be able to be calculated from data provided.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Public health and clinical professionals should continue to provide information to adolescents about the association between EVALI and THC-containing e-cigarette or vaping product use, especially those products obtained through informal sources, and that the use of any e-cigarette or vaping product is unsafe. Compared with adults, it appears that adolescents with EVALI more frequently have a history of asthma and mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and report nonspecific problems, including gastrointestinal and constitutional symptoms; therefore, obtaining a confidential substance use history that includes e-cigarette or vaping product use is rec...