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. 2013 Aug 2;3(8):e002586.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002586.

Sepsis-associated mortality in England: an analysis of multiple cause of death data from 2001 to 2010

Duncan McPherson  1 , Clare Griffiths, Matthew Williams, Allan Baker, Ed Klodawski, Bobbie Jacobson, Liam Donaldson
Affiliations

Sepsis-associated mortality in England: an analysis of multiple cause of death data from 2001 to 2010

Duncan McPherson et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: To quantify mortality associated with sepsis in the whole population of England.

Design: Descriptive statistics of multiple cause of death data.

Setting: England between 2001 and 2010.

Participants: All people whose death was registered in England between 2001 and 2010 and whose certificate contained a sepsis-associated International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) code.

Data sources: Multiple cause of death data extracted from Office for National Statistics mortality database.

Statistical methods: Age-specific and sex-specific death rates and direct age-standardised death rates.

Results: In 2010, 5.1% of deaths in England were definitely associated with sepsis. Adding those that may be associated with sepsis increases this figure to 7.7% of all deaths. Only 8.6% of deaths definitely associated with sepsis in 2010 had a sepsis-related condition as the underlying cause of death. 99% of deaths definitely associated with sepsis have one of the three ICD-10 codes-A40, A41 and P36-in at least one position on the death certificate. 7% of deaths definitely associated with sepsis in 2001-2010 did not occur in hospital.

Conclusions: Sepsis is a major public health problem in England. In attempting to tackle the problem of sepsis, it is not sufficient to rely on hospital-based statistics, or methods of intervention, alone. A robust estimate of the burden of sepsis-associated mortality in England can be made by identifying deaths with one of the three ICD-10 codes in multiple cause of death data. These three codes could be used for future monitoring of the burden of sepsis-associated mortality.

Keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; PUBLIC HEALTH; STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Direct age-standardised rates of death definitely, dark grey, and maybe, light grey, associated with sepsis, England 2001–2010, with 95% CI for the rate.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age-specific death rates for males, dark grey, and females, light grey, of deaths definitely associated with sepsis, England, 2001–2010, with 95% CI for the rate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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