Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 24, Number 3—March 2018
Dispatch

Artificial Differences in Clostridium difficile Infection Rates Associated with Disparity in Testing

Mini KambojComments to Author , Jennifer Brite, Anoshe Aslam, Jessica Kennington, N. Esther Babady, David Calfee, Yoko Furuya, Donald Chen, Michael Augenbraun, Belinda Ostrowsky, Gopi Patel, Monica Mircescu, Vivek Kak, Roman Tuma, Teresa A. Karre, Deborah A. Fry, Yola P. Duhaney, Amber Moyer, Denise Mitchell, Sherry Cantu, Candace Hsieh, Nancy Warren, Stacy Martin, Jill Willson, Jeanne Dickman, Julie Knight, Kim Delahanty, Annemarie Flood, Jennifer Harrington, Deborah Korenstein, Janet Eagan, and Kent Sepkowitz
Author affiliations: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA (M. Kamboj, J. Brite, A. Aslam, J. Kennington, N.E. Babady, D. Korenstein, J. Eagan, K. Sepkowitz); New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York (D. Calfee); Columbia University Medical Center, New York (Y. Furuya); Westchester Medical Center, Westchester, New York, USA (D. Chen); University of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, USA (M. Augenbraun); Montefiore Medical Center, New York (B. Ostrowsky); Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (G. Patel); St. Joseph Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, USA (M. Mircescu); Henry Ford Allegiance Health, Jackson, Mississippi, USA (V. Kak); Easton Hospital, Easton, Pennsylvania, USA (R. Tuma); Methodist Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska, USA (T.A. Karre); Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA (D.A. Fry); South Miami Hospital, Miami, Florida, USA (Y.P. Duhaney); Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut, USA (A. Moyer, D. Mitchell); Backus Hospital, Norwich, Connecticut, USA (A. Moyer, D. Mitchell); Windham Hospital, Willimantic, Connecticut, USA (A. Moyer, D. Mitchell); Mid State Medical Center, Meriden, Connecticut, USA (A. Moyer, D. Mitchell); Hospital of Central Connecticut, New Britain, Connecticut, USA (A. Moyer, D. Mitchell); MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA (S. Cantu); Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (C. Hsieh); Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (N. Warren); Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, USA (S. Martin); University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, California, USA (J. Willson); James Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA (J. Dickman); Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, Washington, USA (J. Knight); University of California San Diego Hospital, San Diego, California, USA (K. Delahanty); City of Hope, Duarte, California, USA (A. Flood); Roswell Park, Buffalo, New York, USA (J. Harrington)

Main Article

Table

Hospital characteristics of study centers and methods used for the diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection, 2015*

Characteristic Hospital type, N = 30
Community hospital, n = 11 Large multispecialty academic center, n = 9 Tertiary-care cancer center, n = 10
Average no. beds (range) 294 (156–472) 869 (563–1,525) 221 (20–660)
No. annual admissions (range) 12,297 (2,897–22,000) 38,711 (14,589–86,658) 9308 (459–28,400)
No. annual patient-days (range) 56,322 (12,249–88,241) 241,034 (155,140–469,664) 65,263 (5,832–202,483)
Average length of stay, d
 4.76
 7.2
 7.95
Transplantation, no.
Hematopoietic stem cell 0 7 9
Solid organ
 0
 8
 0
Diagnostic test, no.
NAAT, 1-step 7 6 5
NAAT, 2-step
 2
 3
 3
No. rejections of formed fecal samples 10 9 8
Pooled HO-CDI rate/1,000 patient-days 0.56 0.87 1.57

*HO-CDI, hospital-onset C. difficile infection; NAAT, nucleic acid amplification testing.

Main Article

Page created: February 16, 2018
Page updated: February 16, 2018
Page reviewed: February 16, 2018
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external