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. 2021 Apr 1;49(4):e433-e443.
doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000004875.

Comparison of Sepsis Definitions as Automated Criteria

Sean C Yu  1   2 , Kevin D Betthauser  3 , Aditi Gupta  1 , Patrick G Lyons  4   5 , Albert M Lai  1 , Marin H Kollef  4 , Philip R O Payne  1 , Andrew P Michelson  1   4
Affiliations

Comparison of Sepsis Definitions as Automated Criteria

Sean C Yu et al. Crit Care Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: Assess the impact of heterogeneity among established sepsis criteria (Sepsis-1, Sepsis-3, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adult Sepsis Event, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid severe sepsis core measure 1) through the comparison of corresponding sepsis cohorts.

Design: Retrospective analysis of data extracted from electronic health record.

Setting: Single, tertiary-care center in St. Louis, MO.

Patients: Adult, nonsurgical inpatients admitted between January 1, 2012, and January 6, 2018.

Interventions: None.

Measurements and main results: In the electronic health record data, 286,759 encounters met inclusion criteria across the study period. Application of established sepsis criteria yielded cohorts varying in prevalence: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adult Sepsis Event (4.4%), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid severe sepsis core measure 1 (4.8%), International Classification of Disease code (7.2%), Sepsis-3 (7.5%), and Sepsis-1 (11.3%). Between the two modern established criteria, Sepsis-3 (n = 21,550) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adult Sepsis Event (n = 12,494), the size of the overlap was 7,763. The sepsis cohorts also varied in time from admission to sepsis onset (hr): Sepsis-1 (2.9), Sepsis-3 (4.1), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adult Sepsis Event (4.6), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid severe sepsis core measure 1 (7.6); sepsis discharge International Classification of Disease code rate: Sepsis-1 (37.4%), Sepsis-3 (40.1%), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid severe sepsis core measure 1 (48.5%), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adult Sepsis Event (54.5%); and inhospital mortality rate: Sepsis-1 (13.6%), Sepsis-3 (18.8%), International Classification of Disease code (20.4%), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid severe sepsis core measure 1 (22.5%), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adult Sepsis Event (24.1%).

Conclusions: The application of commonly used sepsis definitions on a single population produced sepsis cohorts with low agreement, significantly different baseline demographics, and clinical outcomes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Michelson received funding as a shareholder of Pfizer. Dr. Lai received funding as a shareholder of Altria Group, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Barnes Group, Carnival Corp, Citigroup, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Communications, Walt Disney, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Caterpillar, McDonald’s Corp, Ubiquiti, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies, and Yum! Brands. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest.

References

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