Impact of COVID-19 on Hospital-Associated Clostridioides difficile Infection
Author Information
Author(s): Ray Michael J. PhD, MPH, Furuno Jon P. PhD, FSHEA, Strnad Luke C. MD, Lofgren Eric T. PhD, McGregor Jessina C. PhD, FSHEA
Primary Institution: Oregon Health & Science University
Hypothesis
We hypothesized that we would see an increase in HA-CDI rate at the onset of the pandemic due to increases in antibiotic use, followed by a gradual return to the baseline rate.
Conclusion
Despite large increases in several CDI risk factors, we did not observe the expected corresponding changes in HA-CDI rate during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supporting Evidence
- We observed 4.5 HA-CDI cases per 10,000 patient-days in the two years prior to the pandemic and 4.7 cases per 10,000 patient-days in the first two years of the pandemic.
- Frequency of C. difficile testing did not significantly change during the pandemic.
- Despite increases in CDI risk factors at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not observe significant changes in HA-CDI rate.
Takeaway
The study looked at how COVID-19 changed the number of infections caused by a germ called C. difficile in hospitals, and found that even with more risk factors, the infections didn't increase as expected.
Methodology
Interrupted time-series analysis using retrospective healthcare data from a 576-bed academic medical center.
Potential Biases
Potential detection bias due to changes in C. difficile testing frequency during the pandemic.
Limitations
The study's capacity for causal inference is limited due to the nature of group-level data and the institution's low CDI incidence environment.
Participant Demographics
Adult inpatients (≥ 18 years) with a mean age of 57.8 years during the pandemic.
Statistical Information
P-Value
P=0.57
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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