There were 86,000 hospital stays involving C. difficile in 1993, increasing to 349,000 in 2008 and then dropping to 337,000 in 2009. The federal agency reported that among all hospitalized patients with C. difficile in 2009:
• Patients age 85 and older were at highest risk, with hospital stays at a rate of 1,089 per 100,000 people. This was more than double the next highest rate, for those aged 65-84, at 465 stays per 100,000.
• More than 9 percent of hospital stays with C. difficile ended in death, compared with less than 2 percent for all other hospital stays.
• Patients with this condition spent an average of 13 days in the hospital, while the average hospital stay for others was less than 5 days.
Related Articles on C. Difficile:
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California Health Department Releases Six Reports on Healthcare-Acquired Infections
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