The Characteristics and Prognostic Factors of Severe Sepsis in Patients Who Were Admitted to a Medical Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Hospital.
10.4266/kjccm.2009.24.1.28
- Author:
Suk Kyung HONG
1
;
Sang Bum HONG
;
Chae Man LIM
;
Younsuck KOH
Author Information
1. Department of Surgery, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
infection;
organ failure;
severe sepsis
- MeSH:
Humans;
Critical Care;
Intensive Care Units;
Patients' Rooms;
Prevalence;
Retrospective Studies;
Sepsis;
Tertiary Care Centers;
Tertiary Healthcare
- From:The Korean Journal of Critical Care Medicine
2009;24(1):28-32
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Severe sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in intensive care units. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, characteristics, outcomes and prognostic factors of severe sepsis in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) of a tertiary care hospital in Korea. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical chart of 249 patients who were admitted to a medical intensive care unit with severe sepsis. RESULTS: From January 2000 to December 2001, 3410 patients were admitted to the ICU. The prevalence of severe sepsis was 7.3%. The mortality of severe sepsis was 64.6%. The prognostic factors for severe sepsis were the number of organ systems that acutely failed (p = 0.036) and an admission route from general wards (p = 0.018). There was no difference in the outcome of severe sepsis according to infectious organisms (p = 0.24) and the site of infections (p = 0.38). CONCLUSIONS: Severe sepsis in the MICU is a common, expensive and often fatal condition. We expect that early rescucitation and recovery from acute organ system failure will improve the outcome of severe sepsis.
