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Diagnosis Codes for Mold Infections and Mold Exposure Before and After Hurricane Harvey Among a Commercially Insured Population—Houston, Texas, 2016–2018

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2023

Kaitlin Benedict Open the ORCID record for Kaitlin Benedict [Opens in a new window] ,
Brendan R. Jackson  and
Mitsuru Toda
Kaitlin Benedict*
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
Brendan R. Jackson
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
Mitsuru Toda
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Kaitlin Benedict; Email: jsy8@cdc.gov.
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Abstract

Objective:

Indoor mold after flooding poses health risks, including rare but serious invasive mold infections. The purpose of this study was to evaluate use of International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis codes for mold infection and mold exposure in Houston, Texas, during the year before and the year after Hurricane Harvey.

Methods:

This study used data from MarketScan, a large health insurance claims database.

Results:

The incidence of invasive mold infections remained unchanged in the year after Hurricane Harvey; however, the incidence of diagnosis codes for mold exposure nearly doubled compared with the year before the hurricane (6.3 vs 11.0 per 100 000 enrollees, rate ratio: 1.7, 95% confidence interval 1.0–3.1).

Conclusions:

Diagnosis codes alone may not be sufficiently sensitive to detect changes in invasive mold infection rates within this population and time frame, demonstrating the need for more comprehensive studies.

Keywords

floodshurricanesmoldsmycosesTexas
Type
Brief Report
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e504
Creative Commons
This is a work of the US Government and is not subject to copyright protection within the United States. To the extent this work is subject to copyright outside of the United States, such copyright shall be assigned to Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health and licensed to the Publisher. Outside of the United States, the US Government retains a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public and display publicly the Contribution, and to permit others to do so. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health.
Copyright
© Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc, 2023

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