title: Identification of Medicare Recipients at Highest Risk for Clostridium difficile Infection in the US by Population Attributable Risk Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Population attributable risk percent (PAR%) is an epidemiological tool that provides an estimate of the percent reduction in total disease burden if that disease could be entirely eliminated among a subpopulation. As such, PAR% is used to efficiently target prevention interventions. Due to significant limitations in current Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) prevention practices and the development of new approaches to prevent CDI, such as vaccination, we determined the PAR% for CDI in various subpopulations in the Medicare 5% random sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective cohort study using the 2009 Medicare 5% random sample. Comorbidities, infections, and healthcare exposures during the 12 months prior to CDI were identified. CDI incidence and PAR% were calculated for each condition/exposure. Easy to identify subpopulations that could be targeted from prevention interventions were identified based on PAR%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 1,465,927 Medicare beneficiaries with 9,401 CDI cases for an incidence of 677/100,000 persons. Subpopulations representing less than 15% of the entire population and with a PAR% ≥ 30% were identified. These included deficiency anemia (PAR% = 37.9%), congestive heart failure (PAR% = 30.2%), fluid and electrolyte disorders (PAR% = 29.6%), urinary tract infections (PAR% = 40.5%), pneumonia (PAR% = 35.2%), emergent hospitalization (PAR% = 48.5%) and invasive procedures (PAR% = 38.9%). Stratification by age and hospital exposures indicates hospital exposures are more strongly associated with CDI than age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Small and identifiable subpopulations that account for relatively large proportions of CDI cases in the elderly were identified. These data can be used to target specific subpopulations for CDI prevention interventions.
authors: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors: Erik R
authors: ER
authors: Dubberke
authors: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.|Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors: Margaret A
authors: MA
authors: Olsen
authors: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors: Dustin
authors: D
authors: Stwalley
authors: Division of Gastroenterology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors: Ciarán P
authors: CP
authors: Kelly
authors: Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs Hospital, Hines, Illinois, and Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America.
authors: Dale N
authors: DN
authors: Gerding
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America.
authors: Yinong
authors: Y
authors: Young-Xu
authors: Sanofi-Pasteur, Lyon, France.
authors: Cedric
authors: C
authors: Mahé
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000502:physiology*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology