Costs and resource utilization patterns in surgical site infections: a pre-COVID-19 perspective from France, Germany, Spain, and the UK.

BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections (SSIs), mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus, pose a significant economic burden in Europe, leading to increased hospitalization duration, mortality, and treatment costs, particularly with drug-resistant strains such as meticillin-resistant S. aureus. AIM: To conduct a case-control study on the economic impact of S. aureus SSI in adult surgical patients across high-volume centres in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, aiming to assess the overall and procedure-specific burden across Europe. METHODS: The SALT study is a multinational, retrospective cohort study with a nested case-control analysis focused on S. aureus SSI in Europe. The study included participants from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK who underwent invasive surgery in 2016 and employed a micro-costing approach to evaluate health economic factors, matching S. aureus SSI cases with controls. FINDINGS: In 2016, among 178,904 surgical patients in five European countries, 764 developed S. aureus SSI. Matching 744 cases to controls, the study revealed that S. aureus SSI cases incurred higher immediate hospitalization costs (€8,810), compared to controls (€6,032). Additionally, S. aureus SSI cases exhibited increased costs for readmissions within the first year post surgery (€7,961.6 versus €5,298.6), with significant differences observed. Factors associated with increased surgery-related costs included the cost of hospitalization immediately after surgery, first intensive care unit (ICU) admission within 12 months, and hospital readmission within 12 months, as identified through multivariable analysis. CONCLUSION: The higher rates of hospitalization, ICU admissions, and readmissions among S. aureus SSI cases highlight the severity of these infections and their impact on healthcare costs, emphasizing the potential benefits of evidence-based infection control measures and improved patient care to mitigate the economic burden.

Excess burden associated with Clostridioides difficile infection in haematological patients occurring during hospitalization with induction chemotherapy in the USA.

BACKGROUND: Patients with haematological diseases are at high risk of developing Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). AIM: The study aim was to describe excess length of stay and costs associated with CDI during the hospital stay for induction chemotherapy in the United States (USA). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted utilizing data from US databases of Truven Health Analytics®. Comprehensive hospitalization data of patients with induction chemotherapy due to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) were analysed. Patients with CDI occurring during the hospital stay were compared to controls through a case-control comparison of the direct treatment costs and length of stay was performed with an exact matching algorithm. FINDINGS: A total of 2611 patients were included between January 2014 and December 2017. NHL (43.5%) and AML (38.4%) were the predominant underlying diseases and 15% of patients received a stem cell transplantation. During the matching, 105 CDI cases (CDI+) were compared with 801 controls (CDI-). On average, hospitalization costs were increased by US$36,113 in CDI+ compared to CDI- patients (P=0.009) and patients with CDI spent on average 8.9 additional days in hospital (P=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight a significant burden associated with CDI in haematological patients undergoing induction chemotherapy in the USA. There is an important need for prevention of CDI in this specific patient population.