Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2016 Jan;95(4):e2124.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000002124.

Clinical Features, Short-Term Mortality, and Prognostic Risk Factors of Septic Patients Admitted to Internal Medicine Units: Results of an Italian Multicenter Prospective Study

Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Clinical Features, Short-Term Mortality, and Prognostic Risk Factors of Septic Patients Admitted to Internal Medicine Units: Results of an Italian Multicenter Prospective Study

Antonino Mazzone et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Only a few studies provided data on the clinical history of sepsis within internal Medicine units. The aim of the study was to assess the short-term mortality and to evaluate the prognostic risk factors in a large cohort of septic patients treated in internal medicine units. Thirty-one internal medicine units participated to the study. Within each participating unit, all admitted patients were screened for the presence of sepsis. A total of 533 patients were included; 78 patients (14.6%, 95%CI 11.9, 18.0%) died during hospitalization; mortality rate was 5.5% (95% CI 3.1, 9.6%) in patients with nonsevere sepsis and 20.1% (95%CI 16.2, 28.8%) in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. Severe sepsis or septic shock (OR 4.41, 95%CI 1.93, 10.05), immune system weakening (OR 2.10, 95%CI 1.12, 3.94), active solid cancer (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.16, 3.94), and age (OR 1.03 per year, 95% CI 1.01, 1.06) were significantly associated with an increased mortality risk, whereas blood culture positive for Escherichia coli was significantly associated with a reduced mortality risk (OR 0.46, 95%CI 0.24, 0.88). In-hospital mortality of septic patients treated in internal medicine units appeared similar to the mortality rate obtained in recent studies conducted in the ICU setting.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
In-hospital mortality rate according to presentation of sepsis.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Independent predictors of in-hospital mortality at multivariate analysis. CI = confidence interval, ORs = odds ratios.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Angus DC, van der Poll T. Severe sepsis and septic shock. N Engl J Med 2013; 369:840–851. - PubMed
    1. Angus DC, Linde-Zwirble WT, Lidicker J, et al. Epidemiology of severe sepsis in the United States: analysis of incidence, outcome, and associated costs of care. Crit Care Med 2001; 29:1303–1310. - PubMed
    1. Sundararajan V, Macisaac CM, Presneill JJ, et al. Epidemiology of sepsis in Victoria, Australia. Crit Care Med 2005; 33:71–80. - PubMed
    1. Martin GS, Mannino DM, Eaton S, et al. The epidemiology of sepsis in the United States from 1979 through 2000. N Engl J Med 2003; 348:1546–1554. - PubMed
    1. Vincent JL, Rello J, Marshall J, et al. EPIC II Group of Investigators. International study of the prevalence and outcomes of infection in intensive care units. JAMA 2009; 302:2323–2329. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms