Hospitalizations associated with Staphylococcus aureus-related skin and soft tissue infections rose significantly between 2001 and 2009, as did the costs associated with them, according to a study recently published in BMC Infectious Diseases.
Researchers used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample and Census Bureau data to quantify incidence and associated costs of S. aureus-SSTI hospitalizations for the nine year period.
Hospitalizations related to S. aureus-SSTIs rose 123 percent between 2001 and 2009, and they also represented a greater share of all hospitalizations relating to S. aureus, rising from 39 percent in 2001 to 51 percent in 2009.
Total annual costs also increased, peaking in 2008 at $4.84 billion, a 44 percent increase from 2001, according to the study. In 2009, the average cost of a S. aureus-SSTI hospitalization was $11,622.
"Efforts to prevent S. aureus-SSTIs and MRSA-associated SSTIs could have a meaningful impact on healthcare costs for this common infection," the researchers concluded.
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