Half of patients who develop a serious condition as a result of an infection die within two years, a shocking study has found

By Liam On Oct 14, 2024

A study shows that half of patients admitted to hospital with sepsis die within two years.

The life-threatening condition can occur when the body’s immune system – which normally helps fight infections – overreacts to an infection and attacks its own organs.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sepsis kills 11 million people worldwide every year, while in Britain it kills an estimated 48,000 people a year.

Danish researchers examined factors that could predict the outcomes of 714 patients admitted to an emergency department with sepsis.

Researchers found that the risk of death increased if the patient had heart disease, cancer, dementia or if they had previously been hospitalized with sepsis in the past six months.

Danish researchers examined factors that could predict the outcomes of 714 patients admitted to the emergency department with sepsis and found that on average 50 percent die within two years.

The life-threatening condition can occur when the body’s immune system – which normally helps fight infections – overreacts to an infection and causes organ damage

In a 2020 report, WHO highlighted the limitations and gaps in knowledge about the consequences of sepsis and called for prospective studies to investigate long-term outcomes for sepsis patients.

Dr. Finn Nielsen, a senior scientist at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, founded the sepsis research group in his emergency department in 2017.

The study examined the outcomes of patients admitted with sepsis between October 2017 and the end of March 2018, using death data from the Danish registration systems, which provide up-to-date information on all Danish citizens.

WHAT IS SEPSIS?

Sepsis occurs when the body responds to an infection by attacking its own organs and tissues.

Around 44,000 people die from sepsis in Britain every year. Worldwide, someone dies from the condition every 3.5 seconds.

Sepsis has similar symptoms to flu, gastroenteritis and a respiratory infection.

These include:

Sslurred speech or confusion
Eextreme chills or muscle pain
Pnot peeing urine one day
Salways shortness of breath
IIt feels like you’re dying
Srelatives spotted or discolored

Symptoms in children include:

Rapid breathing
Seizures or convulsions
Mottled, bluish or pale skin
Skin rash that does not fade when pressed
Lethargy
Feeling abnormally cold

Children under the age of five may repeatedly vomit, not eat, or not urinate for 12 hours.

Anyone can get sepsis, but it is most common in people who have recently had surgery, have a urinary catheter, or have been in the hospital for a long time.

Other risk groups include people with weak immune systems, chemotherapy patients, pregnant women, the elderly and the very young.

Treatment varies depending on the site of the infection, but includes antibiotics, IV fluids, and oxygen if necessary.

Source: British Sepsis Trust And NHS choices

A total of 2,110 patients with suspected infections were included in the study, and 714 of them developed sepsis.

Researchers found that after an average of two years, 361 (50.6 percent) of patients with sepsis had died from any cause, including sepsis.

Unsurprisingly, they also found that older age increased the risk of death by 4 percent for each additional year of life.

In addition, a history of cancer more than doubled the risk (121 percent), while ischemic heart disease – a condition in which the arteries that supply blood to the heart become narrow or clogged by a buildup of fat – increases the risk by 39 percent. percent.

In addition, dementia increased the risk by 90 percent, and previous admission with sepsis in the past six months increased the risk by 48 percent.

Dr. Nielsen, a specialist in emergency medicine, cardiology and internal medicine, said: ‘Our study was based on a sepsis database, which provided valuable information from prospectively collected patient data. Unlike commonly used routine registry data, this approach minimized errors and provided more accurate and detailed insights into the effects of sepsis.”

However, because the study was conducted in a single center in Denmark, further research in larger, prospective studies is needed.

Speaking at the European Emergency Medicine Congress, Dr Nielsen said: ‘We have sought to address some of the gaps in our understanding of sepsis epidemiology.

‘We have contributed with a study that, unlike many other studies, is based on prospective research based on electronic patient files.

‘Similar but larger studies of sepsis-related outcomes should be replicated across departments, regions and countries to gain a comprehensive epidemiological picture of sepsis, including the long-term prognostic aspects of physical, mental and cognitive impairment, and their potential impact. factors that influence the risk of death.’

Dr. Nielsen and his colleagues tried to develop a model that could predict the risk of death in the longer term, but found that its predictive power was not good enough.

Dr. Barbra Backus is chair of the abstract selection committee of the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) and an emergency physician in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and was not involved in the study.

She said: ‘Sepsis is a serious and potentially fatal medical condition. The incidence of sepsis is increasing in several countries, but to date there is limited, reliable information on the long-term outcomes for patients who develop sepsis.

‘This study has identified certain risk factors that should alert clinicians that patients with sepsis are at increased risk of death so they can monitor and monitor them more closely.

‘More research is needed to help us better understand the risk factors for an increased risk of death from sepsis, which could help improve treatment.’