Kevin Brown1, Kim Valenta2, David Fisman1, Andrew Simor3, Nick Daneman3. 1. Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 2. Department of Anthropology and School of the Environment, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 3. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
IMPORTANCE: Only a portion of hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infections can be traced back to source patients identified as having symptomatic disease. Antibiotic exposure is the main risk factor for C difficile infection for individual patients and is also associated with increased asymptomatic shedding. Contact with patients taking antibiotics within the same hospital ward may be a transmission risk factor for C difficile infection, but this hypothesis has never been tested. OBJECTIVES: To obtain a complete portrait of inpatient risk that incorporates innate patient risk factors and transmission risk factors measured at the hospital ward level and to investigate ward-level rates of antibiotic use and C difficile infection risk. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: A 46-month (June 1, 2010, through March 31, 2014) retrospective cohort study of inpatients 18 years or older in a large, acute care teaching hospital composed of 16 wards, including 5 intensive care units and 11 non-intensive care unit wards. EXPOSURES: Patient-level risk factors (eg, age, comorbidities, hospitalization history, antibiotic exposure) and ward-level risk factors (eg, antibiotic therapy per 100 patient-days, hand hygiene adherence, mean patient age) were identified from hospital databases. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Incidence of hospital-acquired C difficile infection as identified prospectively by hospital infection prevention and control staff. RESULTS: A total of 255 of 34 298 patients developed C difficile (incidence rate, 5.95 per 10,000 patient-days; 95% CI, 5.26-6.73). Ward-level antibiotic exposure varied from 21.7 to 56.4 days of therapy per 100 patient-days. Each 10% increase in ward-level antibiotic exposure was associated with a 2.1 per 10,000 (P < .001) increase in C difficile incidence. The association between C difficile incidence and ward antibiotic exposure was the same among patients with and without recent antibiotic exposure, and C difficile risk persisted after multilevel, multivariate adjustment for differences in patient-risk factors among wards (relative risk, 1.34 per 10% increase in days of therapy; 95% CI, 1.16-1.57). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among hospital inpatients, ward-level antibiotic prescribing is associated with a statistically significant and clinically relevant increase in C difficile risk that persists after adjustment for differences in patient-level antibiotic use and other patient- and ward-level risk factors. These data strongly support the use of antibiotic stewardship as a means of preventing C difficile infection.
IMPORTANCE: Only a portion of hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infections can be traced back to source patients identified as having symptomatic disease. Antibiotic exposure is the main risk factor for C difficile infection for individual patients and is also associated with increased asymptomatic shedding. Contact with patients taking antibiotics within the same hospital ward may be a transmission risk factor for C difficile infection, but this hypothesis has never been tested. OBJECTIVES: To obtain a complete portrait of inpatient risk that incorporates innate patient risk factors and transmission risk factors measured at the hospital ward level and to investigate ward-level rates of antibiotic use and C difficile infection risk. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: A 46-month (June 1, 2010, through March 31, 2014) retrospective cohort study of inpatients 18 years or older in a large, acute care teaching hospital composed of 16 wards, including 5 intensive care units and 11 non-intensive care unit wards. EXPOSURES: Patient-level risk factors (eg, age, comorbidities, hospitalization history, antibiotic exposure) and ward-level risk factors (eg, antibiotic therapy per 100 patient-days, hand hygiene adherence, mean patient age) were identified from hospital databases. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Incidence of hospital-acquired C difficile infection as identified prospectively by hospital infection prevention and control staff. RESULTS: A total of 255 of 34 298 patients developed C difficile (incidence rate, 5.95 per 10,000 patient-days; 95% CI, 5.26-6.73). Ward-level antibiotic exposure varied from 21.7 to 56.4 days of therapy per 100 patient-days. Each 10% increase in ward-level antibiotic exposure was associated with a 2.1 per 10,000 (P < .001) increase in C difficile incidence. The association between C difficile incidence and ward antibiotic exposure was the same among patients with and without recent antibiotic exposure, and C difficile risk persisted after multilevel, multivariate adjustment for differences in patient-risk factors among wards (relative risk, 1.34 per 10% increase in days of therapy; 95% CI, 1.16-1.57). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among hospital inpatients, ward-level antibiotic prescribing is associated with a statistically significant and clinically relevant increase in C difficile risk that persists after adjustment for differences in patient-level antibiotic use and other patient- and ward-level risk factors. These data strongly support the use of antibiotic stewardship as a means of preventing C difficile infection.
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