Table 1. Characteristics of patients hospitalized to a medical emergency department with sepsis of any severity, sepsis and severe sepsis.
| Sepsis of any severity | Sepsis | Severe sepsis | Septic shock | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | (n = 1,713) | (n = 621) | (n = 1,071) | (n = 21) | |
| Gender | Female | 920 (53.7%) | 348 (56.0%) | 564 (52.7%) | 8 (38.1%) |
| Male | 793 (46.3%) | 273 (44.0%) | 507 (47.3%) | 13 (61.9%) | |
| Admission at entry | Directly to the medical ED | 1,098 (64.1%) | 377 (60.7%) | 709 (66.2%) | 12 (57.1%) |
| Open general ED | 590 (34.4%) | 242 (39.0%) | 340 (31.7%) | 8 (38.1%) | |
| Directly to ICU | 25 (1.5%) | 2 (0.3%) | 22 (2.1%) | 1 (4.8%) | |
| Sites of infection per patient, N | 1 | 1,453 (84.8%) | 548 (88.2%) | 891 (83.2%) | 14 (66.7%) |
| 2 | 242 (14.1%) | 67 (10.8%) | 169 (15.8%) | 6 (28.6%) | |
| 3 | 18 (1.1%) | 6 (1.0%) | 11 (1.0%) | 1 (4.8%) | |
| Sites of infection | Central nervous system | 18 (1.1%) | 9 (1.4%) | 9 (0.8%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Lower respiratory tract | 1,077 (62.9%) | 335 (53.9%) | 734 (68.5%) | 8 (38.1%) | |
| Urinary tract | 415 (24.2%) | 143 (23.0%) | 266 (24.8%) | 6 (28.6%) | |
| Abdominal | 184 (10.7%) | 77 (12.4%) | 102 (9.5%) | 5 (23.8%) | |
| Cardiovascular | 11 (0.6%) | 6 (1.0%) | 5 (0.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| Skin, muscles, bones | 98 (5.7%) | 52 (8.4%) | 42 (3.9%) | 4 (19.0%) | |
| Viral/systemic | 42 (2.5%) | 17 (2.7%) | 24 (2.2%) | 1 (4.8%) | |
| Unknown with bacteremia | 23 (1.3%) | 4 (0.6%) | 17 (1.6%) | 2 (9.5%) | |
| Unknown without bacteremia | 75 (4.4%) | 34 (5.5%) | 39 (3.6%) | 2 (9.5%) | |
| Other | 39 (2.3%) | 21 (3.4%) | 18 (1.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| Bacteremia | No | 1,541 (90.0%) | 590 (95.0%) | 938 (87.6%) | 13 (61.9%) |
| Yes | 172 (10.0%) | 31 (5.0%) | 133 (12.4%) | 8 (38.1%) | |
| Number of organ failures | 0 | 621 (36.3%) | 621 (100.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| 1 | 651 (38.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 651 (60.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| 2 | 300 (17.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | 299 (27.9%) | 1 (4.8%) | |
| 3+ | 141 (8.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 121 (11.3%) | 20 (95.2%) | |
| Site of organ failure | CNS | 333 (19.4%) | 0 (0.0%) | 321 (30.0%) | 12 (57.1%) |
| Metabolic | 226 (13.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 209 (19.5%) | 17 (81.0%) | |
| Cardiovascular | 100 (5.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | 79 (7.4%) | 21 (100.0%) | |
| Respiratory | 709 (41.4%) | 0 (0.0%) | 697 (65.1%) | 12 (57.1%) | |
| Renal | 106 (6.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 99 (9.2%) | 7 (33.3%) | |
| Hepatic | 55 (3.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 48 (4.5%) | 7 (33.3%) | |
| Coagulation | 209 (12.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 195 (18.2%) | 14 (66.7%) |
aThe number could exceed the total number of cases, because a patient could have more than one site of infection or site of organ failure.