Abstract
Background
Although it is established that hospital-onset CDI is associated with significant healthcare costs, the economic burden of CDI with onset in other facilities or the community has not been well studied.
Methods
Incident CDI cases were identified using 2011-2017 Medicare fee-for-service data. Controls were randomly selected in a 4:1 ratio matching to the CDI case surveillance definition. Inverse probability of exposure weights were used to balance on measured confounders. One-, 3-, and 5-year cumulative costs attributable to CDI were computed using a 3-part estimator (parametric survival model and pair of 2-part models predicting costs separately in intervals where death did and did not occur).
Results
60,492 CDI cases were frequency matched to 241,968 controls. One-, 3-, and 5-year adjusted attributable costs were highest for hospital-onset CDI at $14,257, $18,953, and $21,792, respectively compared to hospit alized controls, and lowest for community associated CDI compared to community controls at $1,013, $3,161, and $6,454, respectively. Adjusted 1-, 3-, and 5-year costs attributable to community-onset healthcare facility associated CDI were $8,222, $13,066, and $16,329 and for other health care facility onset CDI were $5,345, $6,764, and $7,125, respectively.
Conclusions
Economic costs attributable to CDI in elderly persons were highest for hospital-onset and community-onset healthcare facility associated CDI. Although lower, attributable costs due to CDI were significantly higher in cases with CDI onset in the community or other healthcare facility than for comparable persons without CDI. Additional strategies to prevent CDI in the elderly are needed to reduce morbidity and healthcare expenditures.
