Surveillance Definition Needed to Better Measure Sepsis Mortality, CDC Finds

​Estimates of sepsis-related mortality based on administrative claims data from hospital discharges are substantially higher than national estimates based on death certificates, states an article in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) April 8, 2016, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The death certificates, which were from the years 1999 to 2014, listed an immediate cause of death, one underlying cause of death, up to 20 other contributing causes, and significant conditions that were present but did not directly contribute. Sepsis was listed among the causes of death for 6% of all deaths, or 146,000 to 159,000 annually; it was the underlying cause of 22% of those deaths.