Morbidity and Mortality of Sepsis at the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the Clinical Hospital Center in Zagreb, Croatia

Background: In the least developed countries, sepsis remains the leading cause of death. This Research will show the occurrence of sepsis and septic shock in critically ill patients 10 years after the first attempts of researching incidence of sepsis in Croatia, and give us a better insight into the types of microorganisms that are found in septic patients.

Objective: Determine the number of morbidity and mortality of patients from sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock in 3 ICUs in Clinical Hospital Centre Zagreb.

Hypothesis 1: Gram-negative bacteria are the leading cause of infection in patients with sepsis.

Hypothesis 2: Number of patients suffering from sepsis, severe sepsis, septic shock and their deaths is less than in the other countries with available data on morbidity and mortality.

Methods: The study was conducted with a specially designed form for data collection, made by researchers, and was approved by the Ethics Committee. As a measuring instrument, researchers used criteria for sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock defined by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign. Included were 3169 patients. Demographic, clinical and microbiology data were collected prospectively.

Results: The total number of patients admitted was 3169. Sepsis and severe sepsis occurred in 67 patients, while the septic shock affected 16 patients. Total number of ICU patient deaths was 127, of which 31 patients died from the direct consequences of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. In patients with sepsis, the lungs were the most common site of infection (67%). The most common microorganisms were Pseudomonas aureginosa (46%).

Discussion: We confirmed both hypotheses. Gram negative bacteria were the leading microorganism. Morbidity and mortality from sepsis is less than in the other countries with available data. This research shows that Croatian Hospital Centre Zagreb has lower occurrence of sepsis and septic shock than most ICUs in the world.

Author(s): Slijepcevic J, Koncar M, Friganovic A, Mestrovic M, Draganic S and Slijepcevic V

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