ArticleInfection control and hospital epidemiology2015
Hospital Transfer Network Structure as a Risk Factor for Clostridium difficile Infection.
Article in Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Applications of network analysis to routinely collected health care data: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2018Pooled it
- Reconstructing healthcare networks from patient transfer data: A systematic review.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Novel surveillance design exploiting network analysis for efficient, rapid detection of emerging Clostridioides difficile strains.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Strain sharing and persistence of microbial pathogens colonizing the skin of residents in a regional nursing home network.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Association of hospital centrality in inter-hospital patient-sharing networks with patient mortality and length of stay.PloS one · 2023Article
- Review
- A review of epidemiological models of Clostridioides difficile transmission and control (2009-2021).Anaerobe · 2022Review
- Review of social networks of professionals in healthcare settings-where are we and what else is needed?Globalization and health · 2021Review
- The Effect of Interdependences of Referral Behaviors on the Quality of Ambulatory Care: Evidence from Taiwan.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2021Article
- Modelling pathogen spread in a healthcare network: Indirect patient movements.PLoS computational biology · 2020Article
- Assessing the role of inter-facility patient transfer in the spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae: the case of France between 2012 and 2015.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Web-Based Interactive Tool to Identify Facilities at Risk of Receiving Patients with Multidrug-Resistant Organisms.Emerging infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Article
- Analysis of intra-hospital transfers and hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection.The Journal of hospital infection · 2019Article
- Using hospital network-based surveillance for antimicrobial resistance as a more robust alternative to self-reporting.PloS one · 2019Article
- Regional Spread of an Outbreak of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Through an Ego Network of Healthcare Facilities.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Article
- A scoping review of patient-sharing network studies using administrative data.Translational behavioral medicine · 2018Article
- Antimicrobial-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Carriage and Infection in Specialized Geriatric Care Wards Linked to Acquisition in the Referring Hospital.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Article
- Frequent Undetected Ward-Based Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Transmission Linked to Patient Sharing Between Hospitals.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Observational
- Article
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5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the effect of interhospital patient sharing via transfers on the rate of Clostridium difficile infections in a hospital.
designRetrospective cohort.
methodsUsing data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project California State Inpatient Database, 2005-2011, we identified 2,752,639 transfers. We then constructed a series of networks detailing the connections formed by hospitals. We computed 2 measures of connectivity, indegree and weighted indegree, measuring the number of hospitals from which transfers into a hospital arrive, and the total number of incoming transfers, respectively. Next, we estimated a multivariate model of C. difficile infection cases using the log-transformed network measures as well as covariates for hospital fixed effects, log median length of stay, log fraction of patients aged 65 or older, and quarter and year indicators as predictors.
resultsWe found an increase of 1 in the log indegree was associated with a 4.8% increase in incidence of C. difficile infection (95% CI, 2.3%-7.4%) and an increase of 1 in log weighted indegree was associated with a 3.3% increase in C. difficile infection incidence (1.5%-5.2%). Moreover, including measures of connectivity in our models greatly improved their fit.
conclusionsOur results suggest infection control is not under the exclusive control of a given hospital but is also influenced by the connections and number of connections that hospitals have with other hospitals.
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