The economic burden of Clostridium difficile.
Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011 May 7;
Authors: McGlone SM, Bailey RR, Zimmer SM, Popovich MJ, Tian Y, Ufberg P, Muder RR, Lee BY
Clin Microbiol Infect ABSTRACT: Although Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the leading cause of infectious diarrhoea in hospitalized patients, the economic burden of this major nosocomial pathogen for hospitals, third-party payers and society remains unclear. We developed an economic computer simulation model to determine the costs attributable to healthcare-acquired C. difficile infection (CDI) from the hospital, third-party payer and societal perspectives. Sensitivity analyses explored the effects of varying the cost of hospitalization, C. difficile-attributable length of stay, and the probability of initial and secondary recurrences. The median cost of a case ranged from $9179 to $11?456 from the hospital perspective, $8932 to $11?679 from the third-party payor perspective, and $13?310 to $16?464 from the societal perspective. Most of the costs incurred were accrued during a patient's primary CDI episode. Hospitals with an incidence of 4.1 CDI cases per 100?000 discharges would incur costs ?$3.2?million (hospital perspective); an incidence of 10.5 would lead to costs ?$30.6?million. Our model suggests that the annual US economic burden of CDI would be ?$496?million (hospital perspective), ?$547?million (third-party payer perspective) and ?$796?million (societal perspective). Our results show that C. difficile infection is indeed costly, not only to third-party payers and the hospital, but to society as well. These results are consistent with current literature citing C. difficile as a costly disease.
PMID: 21668576 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]