A new Ottawa-led study shows that sepsis costs the provincial health care system $1 billion a year, underlining the importance of early identification and treatment of the life-threatening condition.
Sepsis, which used to be known as septicemia or blood poisoning, is a leading cause of death among COVID-19 patients. It represents the immune system’s toxic overreaction to an infection.
“Sepsis puts an immense burden on patients, and the effects can last months or years,” said Dr. Kednapa Thavorn, a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and lead author of the study published in the journal, Critical Care Medicine.
The study examined the heath care data of 200,000 sepsis patients admitted to hospital between April 2012 and March 2016. About one-third of those patients had severe cases of sepsis, something that can damage the body’s vital organs.
Researchers compared the experience of sepsis patients to a similarly-sized control group of patients who did not have sepsis. Sepsis patients were matched with non-sepsis patients with similar ages, health issues and socio-economic backgrounds.
All of the patients were followed for two to five years after their initial hospitalizations.
The study found that sepsis patients had longer hospital stays and an increased risk of death: Their mortality rates were 66 per cent higher than non-sepsis patients.
Their healthcare costs were also significantly higher. In the year after their hospital admissions, sepsis patients averaged $9,475 more in health care costs than non-sepsis patients. Among severe sepsis patients, that same figure jumped to $29,238 a year.
Sepsis is considered one of the most expensive conditions to treat in hospital. The study showed that patients with severe sepsis stayed in hospital an average of 12.5 extra days compared to those without the condition. They also tended to stay longer in intensive care and were more likely to return to hospital after being discharged.
“Sepsis is not just an acute illness,” said Thavorn, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. “There are long-term health consequences.”
The study estimated that sepsis cost Ontario an additional $1 billion – about 1.6 per cent of the province’s $61.3 billion health care budget – in 2018.
Dr. Alison Fox-Robichaud, scientific director at Sepsis Canada, said the study highlights the need to better identify sepsis and to treat it early in the course of a patient’s infection. It’s critical, she said, that doctors listen carefully to their patients.
“Our sepsis survivors tell us that many times, they have to really say, ‘Something’s wrong with me, something’s not right,’” she said. Sepsis patients can have a variety of symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and confusion; some have fever, others have chills.
“It is relatively non-specific because everyone’s response to an infection is somewhat individual,” she said.
Fox-Robichaud said a patient’s vital signs – changes in respiratory rate, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen requirements – can offer an early warning system to medical officials, pointing to the onset of sepsis.
Sepsis is typically treated with antibiotics and intravenous fluids.
One of the reasons that sepsis kills so many people – more than 13,000 a year in Canada – is that it’s hard to recognize as a medical emergency. Most sepsis cases start when people are at home, and a campaign has been launched by the Sepsis Alliance to help people recognize its symptoms, which include chills or fever, a high heart rate and shortness of breath. People with sepsis can also have extreme pain or discomfort, clammy or sweaty skin, and exhibit signs of confusion or disorientation.
Sepsis most commonly affects those over the age of 65, but children and people with a compromised immune system are also at risk. Sepsis can be caused by a bacterial, fungal or viral infections, such as the flu or COVID-19.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2021
