Characteristics of patients fulfilling Sepsis-3 clinical criteria* according to physician review of medical records
| All | Likelihood of infection | ||||
| None | Possible | Probable | Definite | ||
| Patients, No. (% of all) | 343 (100.0) | 30 (8.7) | 109 (31.8) | 87 (25.4) | 117 (34.1) |
| Female sex, No. (%) | 158 (46.1) | 13 (43.3) | 43 (39.4) | 34 (39.1) | 68 (58.1) |
| Age, med (IQR) | 71 (60–81) | 68 (52–81) | 70 (60–79) | 72 (60–83) | 72 (62–81) |
| Length of stay, med (IQR) | 11 (6–20) | 10 (6–14) | 10 (6–19) | 11 (5–24) | 12 (7–22) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index†, med (IQR) | 2 (0–3) | 1 (0–2) | 2 (1–3) | 1 (0–2) | 2 (0–3) |
| Risk factors at sepsis onset | |||||
| Prior surgery (30 days)‡, No. (%) | 82 (23.9) | 6 (20.0) | 32 (29.4) | 11 (12.6) | 33 (28.2) |
| Central venous catheter, No.(%) | 87 (25.4) | 8 (26.7) | 33 (30.3) | 13 (14.9) | 33 (28.2) |
| Urinary catheter, No. (%) | 80 (23.4) | 11 (36.7) | 28 (25.7) | 18 (20.7) | 23 (19.7) |
| Sepsis characteristic | |||||
| Community-onset sepsis§, No. (%) | 277 (80.8) | 27 (90.0) | 78 (71.6) | 77 (88.5) | 95 (81.2) |
| Hospital-onset sepsis§, No. (%) | 66 (19.2) | 3 (10.0) | 31 (28.4) | 10 (11.5) | 22 (18.8) |
| ICU admission¶, No. (%) | 52 (15.2) | 10 (33.3) | 14 (12.8) | 9 (10.3) | 19 (16.2) |
| SOFA baseline, med (IQR) | 0 (0–1) | 0(0) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) |
| SOFA Max, med (IQR) | 4(2–5) | 3(2–4) | 3(2–4) | 4(2–5) | 4(3–5) |
| Shock**, No. (%) | 30 (8.7) | 0 (0) | 10 (9.2) | 7 (8.0) | 13 (11.1) |
| Neutropenia††, No. (%) | 46 (13.4) | 2 (6.7) | 19 (17.4) | 9 (10.3) | 16 (13.7) |
| Bloodstream infection,‡‡ No. (%) | 65 (19.0) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.8) | 7 (8.0) | 56 (47.9) |
| Complete course of antimicrobials, No. (%) | 317 (92.4) | 12 (40.0) | 105 (96.3) | 85 (97.7) | 115 (98.3) |
| Source of infection | |||||
| Respiratory infection, No. (%) | 119 (34.7) | 0 (0) | 45 (41.3) | 58 (66.7) | 16 (13.7) |
| Urogenital infection, No. (%) | 54 (15.7) | 0 (0) | 9 (8.3) | 20 (23.0) | 25 (21.4) |
| Unknown source, No. (%) | 42 (12.2) | 0 (0) | 42 (38.5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Bloodstream infection, No. (%) | 35 (10.2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1.1) | 34 (29.1) |
| Skin, bone and joint infection, No. (%) | 30 (8.7) | 0 (0) | 4 (3.7) | 0 (0) | 26 (22.2) |
| Abdominal, No. (%) | 26 (7.6) | 0 (0) | 7 (6.4) | 6 (6.9) | 13 (11.1) |
| Other infection, No. (%) | 7 (2.0) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.8) | 2 (2.3) | 3 (2.6) |
| In-hospital mortality, No. (%) | 40 (11.6) | 1 (3.3) | 16 (14.7) | 13 (14.9) | 10 (8.5) |
| ICD-10 code for sepsis,§§ No. (%) | 59 (17.2) | 1 (3.3) | 4 (3.7) | 13 (14.9) | 41 (35.0) |
*Sepsis-3 defined as any culture taken and administration of two doses antimicrobials combined with change in SOFA score of two points or more during 48 hours before and 24 hours after onset of infection compared with baseline SOFA score calculated before this time window.
†Weighted Charlson comorbidity index.50 Total modified Charlson score: 0–24.
‡Prior surgery was generated using procedure codes. Time zero was sepsis onset.
§Hospital-onset defined as an episode 48 hours after admission or if the patient was readmitted with sepsis within 48 hours of discharge. All other episodes were defined as community-onset.
¶ICU admission at any time during hospitalisation.
**Shock defined as patients receiving vasopressors.
††Neutropenia defined as absolute neutrophil count less than 0.5x109/L.
‡‡Bloodstream infection at any time during hospitalisation (online supplement methods 2).
§§International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes including A02.1, A22.7, A26.7, A32.7, A39.2, A39.4, A40.x, A41.x, A42.7, A48.3, B37.7, M72.6, R57.2, R65.1 and R65.9.
ICU, intensive care unit; med, median; SOFA, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment.