A study published in Critical Care Medicine examined trends in sepsis survivorship and readmission rates after hospitalizations for sepsis.
Researchers conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study in an academic healthcare system from 2010 to 2015. They used three validated, claims-based approaches to identify 17,256 sepsis or severe sepsis hospitalizations.
Here are five findings:
1. During the study period, sepsis as a proportion of medical and surgical admissions increased from 3.9 percent to 9.4 percent.
2. In-hospital mortality rate for sepsis hospitalizations declined from 24.1 percent to 14.8 percent.
3. However, the proportion of patients discharged who were at-risk for hospital readmission after sepsis increased from 2.7 percent to 7.8 percent.
4. From 2010 to 2015, 30-day hospital readmission rates declined from 26.4 percent to 23.1 percent.
5. The readmissions drop was largely driven by a decline in readmission rates among survivors of nonsevere sepsis and nonpneumonia sepsis specifically.