JOURNAL ARTICLE
RESEARCH SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

National point prevalence of Clostridium difficile in US health care facility inpatients, 2008.

BACKGROUND: Recent published estimates of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) incidence have been based on small numbers of hospitals or national hospital discharge data. These data suggest that CDI incidence is increasing.

METHODS: We conducted a point prevalence survey of C difficile in inpatients at US health care facilities. The survey was developed, received Institutional Review Board approval, and was then distributed to all Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc (APIC) members. They were asked to complete the survey on 1 day between May 7 and August 29, 2008, reporting the number of inpatients with CDI or colonization and facility-specific information.

RESULTS: Personnel at 648 hospitals completed the survey; this represents approximately 12.5% of all US acute care facilities. All but 3 states and the District of Columbia were represented (mean, 14 facilities per state; range, 2-43). Eighty-two percent reported that their CDI rate had not decreased in the past 3 years. Respondents reported 1443 C difficile-colonized/infected patients among 110,550 inpatients; the overall C difficile prevalence rate was 13.1 per 1000 inpatients (94.4% infection). Detailed data were provided on 1062 (73.6%) patients. Of these, 55.5% were female, 69.2% were >60 years of age, 67.6% had selected comorbid conditions, 79% had received antimicrobials within 30 days, and 94.4% were detected by enzyme immunoassay. The majority of patients (54.4%) were diagnosed < or =48 hours of hospitalization, but 35% had been admitted to a long-term care facility within 30 days, and 47% had been hospitalized within 90 days; 73% met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for health care-associated CDI. Most facilities (>90%) used contact isolation for CDI patients. Bleach was used for environmental disinfection more commonly during CDI outbreaks than during nonoutbreak periods.

CONCLUSION: Our survey documents a higher C difficile prevalence rate than previous estimates using different methodologies. The majority of inpatient CDI appears to be health care associated. Given that not all patients with diarrhea are tested for CDI and that most facilities use enzyme immunoassays with limited sensitivity to detect C difficile, these are minimum estimates of the US health care facility C difficile burden.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app