Children who develop sepsis tend to feel the effects of the infection on their physical, social and emotional well-being until months after hospital discharge, according to new research.
The research, conducted by Seattle-based University of Washington School of Medicine, will be presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting, May 6 to May 9, in San Francisco.
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Researchers reviewed EHRs and identified 778 children at Seattle Children's Hospital between 2012 and 2015 who were diagnosed with sepsis within four hours of arrival. They compared the patients' baseline health-related quality of life with quality of life measures gathered after hospital discharge.
The study shows that 23.4 percent of the 778 children experienced a decline in quality of life after they received treatment and were discharged. The decline in quality of life persisted for up to 4.5 months after discharge.
One main factor predicting a patient's inability to regain baseline health-related quality of life is severity of sepsis. Approximately 50 percent of patients who developed septic shock and 30.3 percent of patients who developed severe sepsis were unable to return to their baseline health-related quality of life. Additionally, 55.6 percent of patients who experienced the infection in their blood failed to recover to baseline levels, as did 52.9 percent of those who experienced the infection in their central nervous system.