Table 1.
Descriptive Characteristics of Study Population
| Variable | Statistic (n = 69 568) |
|---|---|
| Female gender (%) | 56.72 |
| Age (%) | |
| 18–25 | 6.36 |
| 25–45 | 20.87 |
| 45–60 | 25.23 |
| 60–70 | 18.74 |
| 70–80 | 15.37 |
| 80–100 | 10.37 |
| ≥100 | 2.97 |
| Hospital admission type (%) | |
| Emergency | 58.53 |
| Routine elective | 19.36 |
| Urgent | 12.43 |
| Term pregnancy | 9.41 |
| Hospital admission source (%) | |
| Admitted from home | 79.34 |
| Transferred from another health institution | 12.02 |
| Outpatient | 6.20 |
| Other* | 2.42 |
| Hospital service (%) | |
| Medicine | 45.54 |
| Cardiology | 12.41 |
| Surgery | 11.41 |
| Obstetrics | 10.72 |
| Psychiatry | 4.21 |
| Other† | 15.71 |
| Hemodialysis performed (%) | 5.02 |
| Diabetic (%) | 31.46 |
| Medications (%) | |
| Immunosuppressants (solid-organ transplant) | 1.84 |
| Corticosteroids | 11.31 |
| Antimicrobials assoc** | 36.67 |
| Antimicrobials rarely assoc | 18.30 |
| Proton pump inhibitors | 34.92 |
| CDI (%) | 1.05 |
| Median LOS in days (IQR) | 4.01 (2.40–7.12) |
| Previous visit in last 90 days (%) | 21.85 |
| History of CDI, 1 year (%) | 1.45 |
Abbreviations: assoc, ; CDI, Clostridium difficile infection; IQR, interquartile range; LOS, length of stay.
* Other includes routine admission (unscheduled), transferred form a nursing home, referred and admitted by family physician.
† Other includes burn, gynecology, neurosurgery, open heart surgery, oncology, orthopedics, trauma, vascular.
** assoc refers to known associations between antimicrobials and CDI.