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Economic burden of primary compared with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection in hospitalized patients: a prospective cohort study.
J Hosp Infect. 2016 Apr 20;
Authors: Shah DN, Aitken SL, Barragan LF, Bozorgui S, Goddu S, Navarro ME, Xie Y, DuPont HL, Garey KW
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the additional healthcare costs of recurrent C. difficile infection (CDI).
AIM: To quantify inpatient treatment costs for CDI and length of stay among hospitalized patients with primary CDI only, compared with CDI patients who experienced recurrent CDI.
METHODS: This was a prospective, observational cohort study of hospitalized adult patients with primary CDI followed for three months to assess for recurrent CDI episodes. Total and CDI-attributable hospital length of stay (LOS) and hospitalization costs were compared among patients who did or did not experience at least one recurrent CDI episode.
FINDINGS: In all, 540 hospitalized patients aged 62±17 years (42% males) with primary CDI were enrolled, of whom 95 patients (18%) experienced 101 recurrent CDI episodes. CDI-attributable median (interquartile range) LOS and costs (in US$) increased from 7 (4-13) days and $13,168 (7,525-24,456) for patients with primary CDI only versus 15 (8-25) days and $28,218 (15,050-47,030) for patients with recurrent CDI (P<0.0001, each). Total hospital median LOS and costs increased from 11 (6-22) days and $20,693 (11,287-41,386) for patients with primary CDI only versus 24 (11-48) days and $45,148 (20,693-82,772) for patients with recurrent CDI (P<0.0001, each). The median cost of pharmacological treatment while hospitalized was $60 (23-200) for patients with primary CDI only (N=445) and $140 (30-260) for patients with recurrent CDI (P=0.0013).
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that patients with CDI experience a significant healthcare economic burden attributed to CDI. Economic costs and healthcare burden increased significantly for patients with recurrent CDI.
PMID: 27209056 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]