Study suggests sepsis as a substantial burden to public health

A research team at Lund University in Sweden has found that greater than 4 percent of all hospital admissions in southern Sweden are related to sepsis. It’s a significantly underdiagnosed condition that may be likened to an epidemic. Now the European Sepsis Alliance has assigned the researchers with mapping the prevalence of sepsis in the remaining of Europe.

In 2016, the research team conducted an initial study in southern Sweden (Skåne) where they revealed that sepsis is far more common than previously believed. The incidence turned out to be 750 adults per 100,000 individuals. In the newest study in the identical region, the outcomes showed that greater than 4 percent of all hospitalizations involved the patient affected by sepsis, and 20 percent of all sepsis patients died inside three months.

This makes sepsis as common as cancer with similar negative long-term consequences, and as deadly as an acute myocardial infarction. Amongst sepsis survivors, three-quarters also experience long-term complications akin to heart attacks, kidney problems, and cognitive difficulties.”

Adam Linder, sepsis researcher and associate professor on the Department of infection medicine at Lund University, senior physician at Skåne University Hospital

The European Sepsis Alliance has assigned the researchers with assessing how common sepsis is in the remaining of Europe. Given the differing healthcare systems across countries, it wasn’t immediately clear how they need to proceed to acquire accurate figures. Consequently, the researchers conducted a pilot study southern Sweden to find out if their methods were applicable to other European hospitals.

“Doctors classify patients using diagnostic codes. Since sepsis is a secondary diagnosis resulting from an infection, the condition is significantly underdiagnosed, as the first disease often dictates the diagnostic code. This makes it difficult to seek out a strategy to accurately determine the variety of sepsis cases”, says Lisa Mellhammar, sepsis researcher at Lund University and assistant senior physician at Skåne University Hospital.

Within the study, which is now published in JAMA Network Open, it was revealed that 7,500 patients in Skåne were related to sepsis in 2019. In the course of the pandemic, the incidence increased to 6 percent. Nonetheless, even without Covid-19, the researchers imagine that sepsis ought to be viewed as an epidemic.

The aim is to make use of the publication to influence the EU to determine a typical surveillance system for sepsis. The team are involved with authorities and researchers from around thirty European countries and hope that the research project can secure sufficient funding to begin soon. There isn’t any indication that the variety of sepsis cases can be lower in other parts of Europe than in Sweden. In Swedish hospitals, only two percent of all sepsis patients are antibiotic-resistant, and the researchers speculate that the proportion of resistant cases is higher in lots of other European countries.

“Although sepsis care has improved lately, we’d like to boost our diagnostic methods to discover patients earlier and develop alternative treatment methods beyond antibiotics to avoid resistance. Increasing awareness about sepsis amongst the general public and decision-makers is crucial to be certain that resources are allocated appropriately”, concludes Adam Linder.