Inpatient Cases of Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease in Oncology Patients throughout

Abstract

Specific Aims: To identify the number of Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD) cases in hospitalized oncology patients between 2005 and 2009. To identify the occurrence of mortality, comorbidities, and the amount of hospital charges in this patient population. Predictive variables for mortality and hospital charges were also identified. Methods: Data retrieved from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample were used to retrospectively identify the number of CDAD cases in hospitalized oncology patients, the occurrence of mortality and comorbidities, and the amount of hospital charges incurred between 2005 and 2009. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of mortality and a lognormal regression was used to identify predictors of inpatient charges. Main Results: From 2005 to 2009, we identified 210,449 cases of CDAD in hospitalized adult patients with cancer. Total inpatient charges for all CDAD cases over the five-year period exceeded 18 billion dollars. The percentage of cases that resulted in death was 13%. Variables that were found to be predictors of mortality included increased age (OR 1.019, CI 1.018-1.020), chronic pulmonary disease (OR 1.231, CI 1.191-1.272), coagulopathy (OR 2.085, CI 2.011-2.162), liver disease (OR 1.159, CI 1.072-1.253), fluid and electrolyte disorders (OR 1.561, CI 1.518-1.605), renal failure (OR 1.405, CI 1.349-1.462), and weight loss (OR 1.408, CI 1.362-1.456)(all p<.001). Conclusions: This study identified a large number of CDAD cases in hospitalized adult cancer patients. Several factors that appeared to be predictive of mortality and inpatient charges were also identified, which may be useful knowledge for clinicians who need to identify at-risk patients.