The economic burden of Clostridium difficile.
Clin Microbiol Infect
; 18(3): 282-9, 2012 Mar.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21668576
ABSTRACT
Although Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the leading cause of infectious diarrhoea in hospitalized patients, the economic burden of this major nosocomial pathogen for hospitals, third-party payers and society remains unclear. We developed an economic computer simulation model to determine the costs attributable to healthcare-acquired C. difficile infection (CDI) from the hospital, third-party payer and societal perspectives. Sensitivity analyses explored the effects of varying the cost of hospitalization, C. difficile-attributable length of stay, and the probability of initial and secondary recurrences. The median cost of a case ranged from $9179 to $11 456 from the hospital perspective, $8932 to $11 679 from the third-party payor perspective, and $13 310 to $16 464 from the societal perspective. Most of the costs incurred were accrued during a patient's primary CDI episode. Hospitals with an incidence of 4.1 CDI cases per 100 000 discharges would incur costs ≥$3.2 million (hospital perspective); an incidence of 10.5 would lead to costs ≥$30.6 million. Our model suggests that the annual US economic burden of CDI would be ≥$496 million (hospital perspective), ≥$547 million (third-party payer perspective) and ≥$796 million (societal perspective). Our results show that C. difficile infection is indeed costly, not only to third-party payers and the hospital, but to society as well. These results are consistent with current literature citing C. difficile as a costly disease.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cross Infection
/
Clostridioides difficile
/
Health Care Costs
/
Clostridium Infections
Type of study:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Incidence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Clin Microbiol Infect
Journal subject:
DOENCAS TRANSMISSIVEIS
/
MICROBIOLOGIA
Year:
2012
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States