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