Epidemiology and costs of sepsis

Sepsis with acute organ dysfunction (severe sepsis) is the number one cause of death in the noncoronary intensive care unit. Today, more than 750,000 Americans develop severe sepsis each year equaling more than 2,000 new cases per day in the U.S. alone while the worldwide toll is unknown. Cases of severe sepsis are expected to rise in the future due to the increased awareness and sensitivity for the diagnosis, number of immunocompromised patients, use of invasive procedures, number of resistant microorganisms, and the growth of the elderly population. Despite the enormous investment in critical care resources, severe sepsis mortality ranges from 28% to 50% or greater. The treatment of sepsis causes also enormous costs for the health care systems, amounting to 2 billion USD p.a in the U.S.A or 5 billion Euro in Germany p.a. Both the medical and the health-economic problem of sepsis are in the focus of the medical community. The intensive care specialists took the challenge to overcome the current situation and to reduce sepsis mortality significantly by implementing evidence-based clinical standards for diagnosis and treatment of sepsis worldwide.
Surviving Sepsis Campaign