The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, highlight the need for coordinated efforts to develop new medical interventions aimed at improving sepsis outcomes and reducing readmissions.
Sepsis is the No. 1 killer of hospital patients and was defined last year by an international panel as a condition that arises when the body's response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs, sometimes progressing to septic shock. According to the National Institutes of Health, it may occur in more than 1 million U.S. patients every year, and - despite best practice - an estimated 28 to 50 percent of these people do not survive.
"Many people think infections and sepsis are short-term illnesses and that once patients are discharged from the hospital, they are better," said senior author Sachin Yende, M.D., M.S., associate professor in the Pitt School of Medicine's departments of Critical Care Medicine and Clinical and Translational Sciences and vice president of Critical Care at the VA Pittsburgh. "But all research to date shows that sepsis has serious, lingering consequences, and patients continue to have problems well after they are discharged."