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Using Oral Vancomycin Prescriptions as a Proxy Measure for Clostridium difficile Infections: A Spatial and Time Series Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Philip M. Polgreen*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Ming Yang
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Jennifer L. Kuntz
Affiliation:
Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Center for Health Research, Portland, Oregon
Ramanan Laxminarayan
Affiliation:
Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy, Washington DC; Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey; and Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi
Joseph E. Cavanaugh
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242 (philip-polgreen@uiowa.edu)

Extract

Sales for a drug may be correlated with the prevalence of a condition treated by the drug. We found that state data revealed a strong spatial association and national data a strong temporal association between Clostridium difficile and oral vancomycin prescription sales, suggesting a new “signal” for detecting disease activity.

Type
Concise Communication
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2011

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