Burden of Clostridium difficile on the Healthcare System

There are few high-quality studies of the costs of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), and the majority of studies focus on the costs of CDI in acute-care facilities. Analysis of the best available data, from 2008, indicates that CDI may have resulted in $4.8 billion in excess costs in US acute-care facilities. Other areas of CDI-attributable excess costs that need to be investigated are costs of increased discharges to long-term care facilities, of CDI with onset in long-term care facilities, of recurrent CDI, and of additional adverse events caused by CDI. Clostridium difficile places a significant burden on the healthcare system. However, there are few data defin-ing the cost of C. difficile infection (CDI) on the healthcare system, and much of the burden has yet to be fully quantified. These costs will only continue to increase as the incidence of CDI continues to increase. Fully understanding the burden CDI places on health-care is important to ensure that adequate resources are dedicated to CDI treatment and prevention efforts an