Health Care Costs and Mortality Associated with Nosocomial Diarrhea Due to Clostridium difficile

Abstract

A total of 271 patients were prospectively followed up to determine whether patients whose hospital stay is complicated by diarrhea due to Clostridium difficile experience differences in cost and length of stay and survival rates when compared with patients whose stay is not complicated by C. difficile-associated diarrhea. Forty patients (15%) developed nosocomial C. difficile-associated diarrhea. These patients incurred adjusted hospital costs of $3669--that is, 54% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17%-103%)--higher than patients whose course was not complicated by C. difficile-associated diarrhea. The extra length of stay attributable to C. difficile-associated diarrhea was 3.6 days (95% CI, 1.5-6.2). C. difficile-associated diarrhea was not associated with excess 3-month or 1-year mortality after adjustment for age, comorbidity, and disease severity. On the basis of the findings of this study, a conservative estimate of the cost of this disease in the United States exceeds $1.1 billion per year.

Clostridium Difficile and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

“…3,4 The estimated economic costs associated with C difficile infection (CDI) range from $436 million to $3 billion in the United States annually. 5,6 Initially considered to play a key role in the development of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis, 7 C difficile is now known to cause a wide range of disease presentations ranging from asymptomatic carriage to fulminant colitis, toxic megacolon, sepsis, multiorgan failure, and death. Recent antibiotic exposure or hospitalization were previously considered key in the acquisition of CDI but recent data suggest an increasing number of CDI not associated with antibiotic use and infections being acquired in the community.…”

In Vitro Activity of OPT-80 against Clostridium difficile

“…Patients suffering from C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) are burdened with a prolonged hospital stay, and an increase in costs has been reported for these patients due to additional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (5). First-line antimicrobials for the treatment of CDAD are metronidazole and vancomycin.…”

Clinical and demographic profile and risk factors for Clostridium difficile infection

“…1,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]9). A pesar de los datos encontrados por estos investigadores, la muestra solo incluía 22 casos y 44 controles, y se plantearon reparos sobre la sensibilidad de la prueba diagnóstica utilizada para la detección de la toxina.…”

“…Sumado al incremento en los costos directos e indirectos de atención de la enfermedad (alcanzan hasta USD$ 3,2 billones al año en Estados Unidos) (5), estas características han convertido la enfermedad en un problema de salud en los hospitales (6).…”