Cost Drivers Associated with Clostridium difficile-Associated Diarrhea in a Hospital Setting
Another limitation is that the costs of the hospitalization was calculated from claims and as such do not include either patient paid costs (eg, deductible) or indirect costs (eg, lost work or productivity or caregiver costs) due to CDAD. This study likely underestimates the true costs associated with CDAD. Finally, the patients included in this analysis were all members of large commercial health plans in the US and who are also working and relatively healthy. Therefore, these results may not be generalizable to patients with other types of health insurance or no insurance or to those living outside of the United States.
It is important to note that the trends and drivers described in this study are “potential” influencers contributing to the burden of CDAD. Given that this study is descriptive in nature, formal analyses aimed at confirming these factors as “drivers” should be conducted in future. CDAD-related hospitalizations have previously been shown to be associated with increased inpatient LOS and a substantial economic burden. Our study demonstrates that the CDAD-associated cost burden in hospital settings may be driven by the use of numerous high-cost hospital resources including prolonged ICU stays, isolation, frequent GI and ID consultations, CDAD-related non-diagnostic tests/procedures, and symptomatic CDAD treatment.
Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge Cheryl Jones for her editorial assistance in preparing this manuscript.
Corresponding author: Swetha Rao Palli, CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting, 1775 Lexington Ave, Ste. 200, Cincinnati, OH 45209, swetharao.palli@gmail.com
Funding/support: Funding for this study was provided Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
Financial disclosures: Ms. Palli and Mr. Quimbo are former and current employees of HealthCore, respectively. HealthCore is an independent research organization that received funding from Cubist Pharmaceuticals for the conduct of this study. Dr. Broderick is an employee of Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Strauss was an employee of Optimer Pharmaceuticals during the time the study was carried out.
