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C. difficile Lengthens Hospital Stays by Six Days

Hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infection increases a patient’s hospital stay by an average of six days, according to a new study.

C. difficile infection is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and can even be fatal. Approximately 10 percent of patients who become infected in the hospital will die, medical experts say.

Canadian researchers analyzed data on 136,877 admissions to The Ottawa Hospital between July 1, 2002 and March 31, 2009, using the Ottawa Hospital Data Warehouse

Of those admissions, a total of 1,393 patients acquired C. difficile in the hospital during this time, and these patients spent 34 days in hospital compared with 8 days for patients who did not have C. difficile.

However, patients who became infected with C. difficile tended to have more serious illnesses, which means they would have been more likely to stay longer in the hospital anyway, the study‘s authors said. Using a mathematical model, researchers were able to control for the level of illness and found that hospital-acquired C. difficile increased a patient’s hospital stay by six days.

“We believe our study provides the most accurate measure yet of the impact of hospital-acquired C. difficile on length of hospital stay,” said Dr. Alan Forster, associate professor at the University of Ottawaa and senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. “C. difficile is a very serious problem for patients and for the health care system.”

Researchers says tools like The Ottawa Hospital Data Warehouse are providing more accurate information about C. difficile infection than has been previously available. Such tools are helping doctors and hospitals improve infection-prevention efforts and analyze their cost-effectiveness.

For more on medical safety issues, see the library of articles by Daytona Beach medical malpractice attorney.

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