JAMA-Prevalence, Underlying Causes, and Preventability of Sepsis-Associated Mortality in US Acute Care Hospitals

Prevalence, Underlying Causes, and Preventability of Sepsis-Associated Mortality in US Acute Care Hospitals

Question  What is the prevalence of sepsis-associated mortality in US acute care hospitals and how preventable are these deaths?

Findings  In this cohort study reviewing the medical records of 568 patients who were admitted to 6 hospitals and died in the hospital or were discharged to hospice and not readmitted, sepsis was present in 300 hospitalizations (52.8%) and directly caused death in 198 cases (34.9%). However, most underlying causes of death were related to severe chronic comorbidities and only 3.7% of sepsis-associated deaths were judged definitely or moderately preventable.