An advocacy group calls for greater public education about sepsis in the wake of a recent report that finds the blood infection remains the most expensive inpatient condition.
Sepsis accounts for nearly $24 billion in annual costs, according to the report, and kills 258,000 people in the United States every year, or one person every two minutes, notes Sepsis Alliance, a patient advocacy group. Other research indicates that sepsis contributes to as many as 50 percent of all U.S. hospital deaths.
“The conclusions spelled out in this report really do take your breath away,” Thomas Heymann, executive director of Sepsis Alliance said in the announcement. “Sepsis is the most expensive condition to treat in our healthcare system, and it’s only getting more costly. No matter what side of the political aisle you’re on, it’s dramatic to see how raising sepsis awareness and improving patient outcomes could have a profoundly positive impact on our national healthcare system, our economy, and our nation as a whole.”
Despite its high costs, a majority of American's don't know what sepsis is or how to treat the life-threatening condition. The most recent Sepsis Alliance Awareness Survey found that fewer than one-half of all adult Americans have ever heard of sepsis. And the number is even lower among younger adults.
“Sepsis is a national epidemic and the country’s largest unmet medical need,” Sepsis Alliance Medical Director James O’Brien, Jr., M.D., said in the statement. “Early recognition of the symptoms of sepsis combined with prompt administration of fluids and antibiotics can make a huge difference not only in morbidity and mortality, but also in length of hospital stays and health care costs," he said. "Now more than ever, it is critical that we raise awareness of sepsis, which will reduce healthcare costs and, more importantly, save thousands of lives every year. We must do more.”
Meanwhile, the mental health of those who survive sepsis deserves further attention as well, according to a recent study from 2-Minute Medicine. A primary care-based intervention aimed at patients’ mental health after a sepsis-related hospital stay had minimal effect on those patients’ quality of life, as measured by the presence of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, as compared to their counterparts receiving standard follow-up care. However, those patients in the intervention group did experience somewhat improved physical functioning and capacity to perform activities of daily living.
- here’s the announcement
- read the study abstract