Clostridium difficile infection seasonality: patterns across hemispheres and continents - a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Studies have demonstrated seasonal variability in rates of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Synthesising all available information on seasonality is a necessary step in identifying large-scale epidemiological patterns and elucidating underlying causes.

Methods

Three medical and life sciences publication databases were searched from inception to October 2014 for longitudinal epidemiological studies written in English, Spanish or Portuguese that reported the incidence of CDI. The monthly frequency of CDI were extracted, standardized and weighted according to the number of follow-up months. Cross correlation coefficients (XCORR) were calculated to examine the correlation and lag between the year-month frequencies of reported CDI across hemispheres and continent

SUBMITTER: Furuya-Kanamori L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4361656 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature