Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2002 Feb 1;34(3):346-53.
doi: 10.1086/338260. Epub 2001 Dec 17.

Health care costs and mortality associated with nosocomial diarrhea due to Clostridium difficile

Affiliations

Health care costs and mortality associated with nosocomial diarrhea due to Clostridium difficile

Lorraine Kyne et al. Clin Infect Dis. .

Abstract

A total of 271 patients were prospectively followed up to determine whether patients whose hospital stay is complicated by diarrhea due to Clostridium difficile experience differences in cost and length of stay and survival rates when compared with patients whose stay is not complicated by C. difficile-associated diarrhea. Forty patients (15%) developed nosocomial C. difficile-associated diarrhea. These patients incurred adjusted hospital costs of $3669--that is, 54% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17%-103%)--higher than patients whose course was not complicated by C. difficile-associated diarrhea. The extra length of stay attributable to C. difficile-associated diarrhea was 3.6 days (95% CI, 1.5-6.2). C. difficile-associated diarrhea was not associated with excess 3-month or 1-year mortality after adjustment for age, comorbidity, and disease severity. On the basis of the findings of this study, a conservative estimate of the cost of this disease in the United States exceeds $1.1 billion per year.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types