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Volume 11, Number 10—October 2005
Research

Vancomycin and Home Health Care

Thomas G. Fraser*1, Valentina Stosor*, Qiong Wang†, Anne Allen‡, and Teresa R. Zembower*Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: *Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA; †University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois, USA; ‡Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Main Article

Table 3

Demographic and clinical characteristics of 296 patients referred for home infusions of vancomycin from December 1997 through May 2002*

Characteristic Use per guidelines, N = 180 Use outside guidelines, N = 116 p value†
Mean age, years (range) 53.6 (19–90) 48.9 (19–86) 0.016
Male, no. (%) 109 (60.6) 76 (65.5) 0.389
Ethnicity, no. (%)
Caucasian 100 (55.6) 75 (64.7) 0.120
African-American 52 (28.9) 22 (19.0) 0.054
Asian 3 (1.7) 0 0.283
Hispanic 7 (3.9) 2 (1.7) 0.490
Other 18 (10.0) 15 (12.9) 0.434
Mean length of stay, days (range) 12.2 (2–52) 9.5 (2–67) 0.007
Coexisting conditions, no. (%)
Diabetes mellitus 47 (26.1) 28 (24.1) 0.703
Malignancy 39 (21.7) 12 (10.3) 0.012
Spinal cord injury 28 (15.6) 13 (11.2) 0.290
Decubitus ulcer 31 (17.2) 11 (9.5) 0.063
Acute renal failure 15 (8.3) 6 (5.2) 0.301
ESRD 5 (2.8) 1 (0.9) 0.409
Immunocompromised status 10 (5.6) 8 (6.9) 0.637
HIV 3 (1.7) 1 (0.9) 1.000
Charlson score, mean (range) 1.4 (0–8) 1.1 (0–14) 0.217
Insurance status, no. (%) 176 (97.8) 116 (100) 0.158
Private 121 (67.2) 86 (74.1) 0.205
Medicare 74 (41.1) 36 (31.0) 0.080
Medicaid 48 (26.7) 25 (21.6) 0.319
Discharging service, no. (%)
Medical 108 (60.0) 44 (37.9) <0.001
General medicine 66 (36.7) 29 (25.0) 0.036
Medicine subspecialties 29 (16.1) 10 (8.6) 0.063
Hematology/oncology 13 (7.2) 5 (4.3) 0.306
Surgical 67 (37.2) 69 (59.5) <0.001
General surgery 2 (1.1) 4 (3.5) 0.215
Transplant surgery 5 (2.8) 6 (5.2) 0.350
Vascular surgery 14 (7.8) 7 (6.0) 0.569
Orthopedics/neurosurgery 31 (17.2) 41 (35.3) <0.001
Other surgical subspecialties 15 (8.3) 11 (9.5) 0.733
Other hospital services 5 (2.8) 3 (2.6) 1.000
Consultation by infectious diseases, no. (%) 85 (47.2) 58 (50.0) 0.641

*ESRD, end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis; immunocompromised status, immunocompromised from causes other than HIV.
†Values <0.05 were considered significant.

Main Article

1Current affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Page created: February 22, 2012
Page updated: February 22, 2012
Page reviewed: February 22, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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