Abstract
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The global burden of sepsis is estimated at 19.4 million cases each year and 5.3 million sepsis-related deaths annually. However, this estimate is based on the incidence of hospital-treated sepsis in the developed world and may underestimate the true global burden of sepsis.
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The incidence of sepsis is rising over time, and there are disparities in incidence by age, gender, comorbidity burden, and socioeconomic status.
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The most common sites of infection are the lung, abdomen, urinary tract, bloodstream, and skin/soft tissue.
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About 35–45% of sepsis cases have gram-negative organisms identified, 30–40% have gram-positive organisms identified, and 12–16% have fungal organisms identified. Thirty to forty percent of cases are culture negative, and 20% have multiple pathogens identified.
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The case-fatality rate is falling, but sepsis survivors are at increased risk for morbidity, recurrent sepsis, and late death.
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Thirty to forty percent of sepsis survivors are rehospitalized within 90 days, most commonly for recurrent sepsis.
Keywords
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Prescott, H.C. (2018). The Epidemiology of Sepsis. In: Wiersinga, W., Seymour, C. (eds) Handbook of Sepsis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73506-1_2
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