Sepsis a Growing Problem in ICUs

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Critical Care Medicine in San Antonio (TX, USA).

More patients are afflicted with the condition today and their cases are more complex. From 1992 to 1999, the number of cases increased from 635,000 to 965,000. Complex severe sepsis cases, defined by more than one organ failure, also grew. The researchers also noted a dramatic 40% increase in the number of elderly patients over 85 years of age. However, despite these increases, sepsis-related mortality decreased about 4% over the seven-year period.

Because the increases will result in more use of costly medical procedures, they may result in a reduction of services. A recent survey by the Society of Critical Care Medicine found that nearly two thirds of critical care providers practice "bedside rationing” of services and medications, and 43% said they would ration the only drug approved for severe sepsis, drotrecogin, in order to control medical costs.

"This condition has long been one of medicine's greatest foes, taking more lives each year than breast, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer combined. Mounting numbers and more complex cases will only make severe sepsis a more formidable adversary,” said investigator Derek C. Angus, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of critical care medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (PA, USA).




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