Furuya-Kanamori L., Robson J., Soares Magalhaes R.J., Yakob L., McKenzie S., Paterson D.L., Riley T.V., Clements A.C. (2014) A population-based spatio-temporal analysis of Clostridium difficile infection in Queensland, Australia over a 10-year period. Journal of Infection. 69:447–455. doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2014.06.014
Abstract
To identify the spatio-temporal patterns and environmental factors associated with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in Queensland, Australia.
Data from patients tested for CDI were collected from 392 postcodes across Queensland between May 2003 and December 2012. A binomial logistic regression model, with CDI status as the outcome, was built in a Bayesian framework, incorporating fixed effects for sex, age, source of the sample (healthcare facility or community), elevation, rainfall, land surface temperature, seasons of the year, time in months and spatially unstructured random effects at the postcode level.
There was an increasing annual trend in CDI in Queensland from 2003 to 2012. Peaks of CDI were found in summer (December-February), which is at odds with the current epidemiological pattern described for northern hemisphere countries. Epidemiologically plausible explanations for this disparity require further investigation.