Epidemiology of Sepsis in US Children and Young Adults.

Background

Most multicenter studies of US pediatric sepsis epidemiology use administrative data or focus on pediatric intensive care units. We conducted a detailed medical record review to describe sepsis epidemiology in children and young adults.

Methods

In a convenience sample of hospitals in 10 states, patients aged 30 days-21 years, discharged during 1 October 2014-30 September 2015, with explicit diagnosis codes for severe sepsis or septic shock, were included. Medical records were reviewed for patients with documentation of sepsis, septic shock, or similar terms. We analyzed overall and age group-specific patient characteristics.

Results

Of 736 patients in 26 hospitals, 442 (60.1%) had underlying conditions. Most patients (613 [83.3%]) had community-onset sepsis, although most community-onset sepsis was healthcare associated (344 [56.1%]). Two hundred forty-one patients (32.7%) had outpatient visits 1-7 days before sepsis hospitalization, of whom 125 (51.9%) received antimicrobials ≤30 days before sepsis hospitalization. Age group-related differences included common underlying conditions (<5 years: prematurity vs 5-12 years: chronic pulmonary disease vs 13-21 years: chronic immunocompromise); medical device presence ≤30 days before sepsis hospitalization (1-4 years: 46.9% vs 30 days-11 months: 23.3%); percentage with hospital-onset sepsis (<5 years: 19.6% vs ≥5 years: 12.0%); and percentage with sepsis-associated pathogens (30 days-11 months: 65.6% vs 13-21 years: 49.3%).

Conclusions

Our data suggest potential opportunities to raise sepsis awareness among outpatient providers to facilitate prevention, early recognition, and intervention in some patients. Consideration of age-specific differences may be important as approaches are developed to improve sepsis prevention, risk prediction, recognition, and management.

Informations de copyright

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America 2023.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Potential conflicts of interest. G. D.: personal fees from Seres Therapeutics. R. L.: payment for serving as Associate Editor of the American Academy of Pediatrics Red Book (donated to the Minnesota Department of Health); support for attending meetings and/or travel as a member of the IDWeek Program Committee; support for attending meetings and/or travel as an Executive Board Member of the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists; support for attending meetings and/or travel as an Executive Board Member of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; and support for attending meetings and/or travel from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Infectious Diseases. M. K.: reimbursement for time participating in the CSF Seqirus Asia-Pacific Advisory Council; and compensation and travel support for service on the board of the Infectious Disease Consulting Corporation. M. M.: recipient of Public Health Scholarship support for meeting attendance/travel to the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2019 spring meeting. All authors affiliated with EIP sites report support for their institutions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All other authors report no potential conflicts.