Objective: The primary study aim was to describe all direct healthcare costs associated with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), both in and out of the hospital, in patients with hematologic malignancies in the United States.
Design: A retrospective analysis was conducted utilizing data from US databases of Truven Health Analytics.
Patients: We analyzed health insurance claims between January 2014 and December 2017 of patients diagnosed with hematological cancer: acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).
Methods: Patients with CDI after cancer diagnosis (CDI+, cases) were matched with patients without CDI reported (CDI-, controls). Matched cases and controls were compared to identify the CDI-associated costs in the 90 days following the onset of CDI.
Results: We matched 622 CDI+ patients with 11,111 CDI- patients. NHL (41.7%) and AML (30.9%) were the predominant underlying diseases in the CDI+ groups. During study period, the average time in-hospital of CDI+ patients was 23.1 days longer than for CDI- patients (P < 2×10-16). Overall, CDI onset increased costs of care by an average of US$57,159 per patient (P = 6×10-12), mainly driven by hospital costs.
Conclusions: This study confirms the significant economic burden associated with CDI in the United States, especially in patients with hematological malignancies. These findings highlight the need for prevention of CDI in this specific patient population.