Mortality Related to Severe Sepsis on the Decline, Study Finds

Mortality among critically ill patients in Australia and New Zealand with severe sepsis decreased from 2000 to 2012, reports a study published online March 18, 2014, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, which included 101,064 patients with severe sepsis from 171 intensive care units (ICUs), found that absolute mortality in severe sepsis decreased from 35.0% to 18.4%, representing an overall decrease of 16.7%, an annual rate of absolute decrease of 1.3%, and a relative risk reduction of 47.5%. According to the study's results, the annual decline in mortality did not differ significantly between patients with severe sepsis and those with all other diagnoses, and the annual increase in rates of discharge to home was significantly greater in patients with severe sepsis when compared with all other diagnoses. Conversely, the annual increase in the rate of patients discharged to rehabilitation facilities during the study period was significantly less in patients with severe sepsis when compared with all other diagnoses.