Artificial differences in Clostridium difficile infection rates associated with disparity in testing

Authors

Mini Kamboj
Jennifer Brite
Anoshe Aslam
Jessica Kennington
N E. Babady
David Calfee
Yoko Furuya
Donald Chen
Michael Augenbraun
Belinda Ostrowsky
Gopi Patel
Monica Mircescu
Vivek Kak, Henry Ford HealthFollow
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
Kent Sepkowitz

Recommended Citation

Kamboj M, Brite J, Aslam A, Kennington J, Babady NE, Calfee D, Furuya Y, Chen D, Augenbraun M, Ostrowsky B, Patel G, Mircescu M, Kak V, Tuma R, Karre TA, Fry DA, Duhaney YP, Moyer A, Mitchell D, Cantu S, Hsieh C, Warren N, Martin S, Willson J, Dickman J, Knight J, Delahanty K, Flood A, Harrington J, Korenstein D, Eagan J, and Sepkowitz K. Artificial differences in clostridium difficile infection rates associated with disparity in testing. Emerg Infect Dis 2018; 24(3):584-587.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2018

Publication Title

Emerg Infect Dis

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.

Medical Subject Headings

Bacteriological Techniques; Clostridium Infections; Clostridium difficile; Health Status Disparities; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; Public Health Surveillance

PubMed ID

29460760

Volume

24

Issue

3

First Page

584

Last Page

587