Emergency Department Visits due to Clostridium Difficile

RM 207

Objective: Much of the literature has highlighted clostridium difficile infection (CDI) among inpatient cases involving at risk population, though little evidence exists on emergency department (ED) utilization. The objective of this study was to address such a gap in the literature. Methods: The primary outcome variable for this study is to evaluate ED visits due to CDI, which included both primary and secondary discharges using the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) 2010 data. This data provided health and hospital quality information from the state of California that was utilized to run descriptive statistics, chi square, and regression analysis. Results: A population sample of 6,871,321 ED cases was obtained from the state of California in 2010. Of these six million were cases CDI; thus noting a prevalence of 1.87 per 1,000 visits. It was observed that in the age category less than 1% of the patients between the ages 18-34 were infected with CDI versus 5.6% of patients 65 years or more. It was also observed that CDI was higher among women, as compared to men (2.1% vs. 1.5%), with similar results persisting upon regression analyses. Similarly, those between the ages 35-64 had 63% lower odds of going to the emergency room with CDI compared to patients 65 years or older. Conclusion: Our study has identified the priority population that should be targeted in reducing C.diff infections.