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Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Warren, BG; Burch, CD; Barrett, A; Graves, A; Gettler, E; Turner, NA; Moehring, RW; Anderson, DJ
Published in: Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
April 2024

OBJECTIVE: To analyze Clostridioides difficile testing in 3 hospitals in central North Carolina to validate previous racial health-disparity findings. METHODS: We completed a retrospective analysis of inpatient C. difficile tests from 2015 to 2021 at 3 university-affiliated hospitals in North Carolina. We calculated the number of C. difficile tests per 1,000 patient days stratified by race: White, Black, and non-White, non-Black (NWNB). We defined a unique C. difficile test as one that occurred in an inpatient unit with a matching laboratory accession ID and on differing calendar days. Tests were evaluated overall, by hospital, by year, and by positivity rate. RESULTS: In total, 35,160 C. difficile tests and 2,571,850 patient days across all 3 hospitals from 2015 to 2021 were analyzed. The median number of C. difficile tests per 1,000 patient days was 13.85 (interquartile range [IQR], 9.88-16.07). Among all C. difficile tests, 5,225 (15%) were positive. White patients were administered more C. difficile tests (14.46 per 1,000 patient days) than Black patients (12.96; P < .0001) or NWNB race patients (10.27; P < .0001). Black patients were administered more tests than NWNB patients (P < .0001). White patients tested positive at a similar rate to Black patients (15% vs 15%; P = .3655) and higher than NWNB individuals (12%; P = .0061), and Black patients tested positive at a higher rate than NWNB patients (P = .0024). CONCLUSION: White patients received more C. difficile tests than Black and NWNB patient groups when controlling for race patient days. Future studies should control for comorbidities and investigate community onset of C. difficile by race and ethnicity.

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Published In

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol

DOI

EISSN

1559-6834

Publication Date

April 2024

Volume

45

Issue

4

Start / End Page

429 / 433

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • White
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Humans
  • Hospitals
  • Epidemiology
  • Comorbidity
  • Clostridioides difficile
  • 42 Health sciences
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 11 Medical and Health Sciences
 

Citation

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Warren, B. G., Burch, C. D., Barrett, A., Graves, A., Gettler, E., Turner, N. A., … Anderson, D. J. (2024). Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 45(4), 429–433. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2023.244
Warren, Bobby G., Christopher D. Burch, Aaron Barrett, Amanda Graves, Erin Gettler, Nicholas A. Turner, Rebekah W. Moehring, and Deverick J. Anderson. “Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 45, no. 4 (April 2024): 429–33. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2023.244.
Warren BG, Burch CD, Barrett A, Graves A, Gettler E, Turner NA, et al. Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2024 Apr;45(4):429–33.
Warren, Bobby G., et al. “Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, vol. 45, no. 4, Apr. 2024, pp. 429–33. Pubmed, doi:10.1017/ice.2023.244.
Warren BG, Burch CD, Barrett A, Graves A, Gettler E, Turner NA, Moehring RW, Anderson DJ. Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2024 Apr;45(4):429–433.
Journal cover image

Published In

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol

DOI

EISSN

1559-6834

Publication Date

April 2024

Volume

45

Issue

4

Start / End Page

429 / 433

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • White
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Humans
  • Hospitals
  • Epidemiology
  • Comorbidity
  • Clostridioides difficile
  • 42 Health sciences
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 11 Medical and Health Sciences