The Epidemic of Sepsis: A Shocking Revelation from Southern Sweden

A team of researchers has found that more than 4 percent of all hospital admissions in southern Sweden are associated with sepsis, a significantly underdiagnosed condition that can be compared to an epidemic, experts say.

In 2016, the research team conducted an initial study in southern Sweden (Skåne), showing that sepsis is much more common than previously thought.

The incidence was found to be 750 adults per 100,000 people.

In the most recent study in the same region, results showed that more than four percent of all hospitalizations involved a patient suffering from sepsis, and 20 percent of all patients with sepsis died within three months.

“This makes sepsis as common as cancer, with similar negative long-term consequences, and as deadly as an acute myocardial infarction,” says Dr. Adam Linder, a physician at Skåne University Hospital and a researcher in in the field of sepsis, associate professor at the department for clinical infections at Lund University.

According to him, among sepsis survivors, three-quarters of them also face long-term complications, such as myocardial infarction, kidney problems and cognitive difficulties.

The European Sepsis Alliance commissioned researchers to assess how common sepsis is in the rest of Europe.

Given that health systems differ from one country to another, it was not immediately clear how they should proceed to obtain accurate figures.

Consequently, the researchers conducted a pilot study in southern Sweden to determine whether their methods are applicable in other European hospitals.

“Doctors classify patients using diagnostic codes. Because sepsis is a secondary diagnosis resulting from an infection, the condition is significantly underdiagnosed because the primary disease often dictates the diagnosis code. This makes it difficult to find a way to accurately determine the number of sepsis cases,” said Lisa Mellhammar, sepsis researcher at Lund University and senior nurse at Skåne University Hospital.

In the study, published on August 29, in JAMA Network Openit was highlighted that 7,500 patients in Skåne were associated with sepsis in 2019.

During the pandemic, the incidence rose to six percent.

However, even without Covid-19, researchers warn that sepsis should be seen as an epidemic.

The aim is to use this research to influence the European Union to establish a common sepsis surveillance system.

The team is in contact with authorities and researchers in about thirty European countries and hopes that the research project can secure sufficient funding to start an initiative in this regard soon.

There is no indication that the number of sepsis cases is lower in other parts of Europe than in Sweden, say the specialists who worked on this study.

In Swedish hospitals, only two percent of all sepsis patients are resistant to antibiotics, and researchers speculate that the proportion of resistant cases is higher in many other European countries.

“Although the care of patients with sepsis has improved in recent years, we need to improve our diagnostic methods to identify patients earlier and develop alternative treatment methods outside of antibiotics to avoid resistance,” says Dr. Adam Linder.

According to him, raising awareness of sepsis among the public and decision-makers “is crucial” to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately.

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2023-09-05 13:01:22
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