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

Emerg Infect Dis. 2018 Mar;24(3):584-587. doi: 10.3201/eid2403.170961.

Abstract

In 2015, Clostridium difficile testing rates among 30 US community, multispecialty, and cancer hospitals were 14.0, 16.3, and 33.9/1,000 patient-days, respectively. Pooled hospital onset rates were 0.56, 0.84, and 1.57/1,000 patient-days, respectively. Higher testing rates may artificially inflate reported rates of C. difficile infection. C. difficile surveillance should consider testing frequency.

Keywords: Clostridium difficile; National Healthcare Safety Network; United States; bacteria; healthcare-associated infection; nucleic acid amplification tests; testing rate.

MeSH terms

  • Bacteriological Techniques
  • Clostridioides difficile* / genetics
  • Clostridium Infections / diagnosis
  • Clostridium Infections / epidemiology*
  • Clostridium Infections / microbiology*
  • Health Status Disparities*
  • Hospitalization
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques
  • Public Health Surveillance