March 06, 2012
This visualization relates the population-adjusted state mortality from Clostridium difficile, a serious gastrointestinal infection usually caused by broad spectrum antibiotic use, with outpatient prescribing rates of oral vancomycin, a preferred treatment for acute cases of C. difficile infections. Between 2000 and 2007 there is a striking increase in C. difficile-associated mortality, from 0.42 to 2.15 deaths per 100,000 population. Hospitalization data shows that not only are more people developing infections, but cases are more likely to be fatal, as C. difficile strains become increasingly virulent and drug-resistant. There is strong temporal and geographic correlation between vancomycin prescribing and C. difficile mortality. As previously noted, this makes the case for the use of drug utilization data as a cost-effective form of disease surveillance.
