Sepsis is a fatal medical emergency which is estimated to be involved in approximately 48,000 deaths in the UK annually. The disease is defined as “poisoning in the blood” and is a highly dangerous condition caused by the pathogen of an ongoing infection. In the United States, an estimated 1.7 million Americans develop sepsis annually and approximately 350,000 adults succumb to the condition while receiving treatment in the hospital. With sepsis mortality rates increasing worldwide, researchers are shifting their focus from the efficiency in treating the condition to developing better screening methods for it.
There are four existing systems that are used to test for sepsis: National Early Warning Score (NEWS2), quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) and Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS). Diagnosing sepsis is often complicated, as the early symptoms often present themselves as other and less life-threatening conditions.
Upon further investigation, German researchers discovered that there are significant errors in two of the four screening methods used to diagnose sepsis. Furthermore, NEWS2 is declared the most efficient, providing a somewhat accurate prediction rate of 72.2% of cases. Using this observational data, providers are urging that NEWS2 be the only used screening tool to detect sepsis in patients. With this new safety precaution in place, researchers and clinicians are hoping to see a decrease in the mortality rates associated with sepsis from earlier and more accurate detection.
By Maya Yorks