{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.049132947976878616, 'fraction_numerical': 0.055491329479768786, 'mean_word_length': 4.62012987012987, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 3, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Epidemiology and outcome of sepsis syndromes in Italian ICUs: a muticentre, observational cohort study in the region of Piedmont.

BACKGROUND
Sepsis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in the intensive care unit (ICU). We performed a study to describe the epidemiology of sepsis syndromes in patients admitted to ICUs of the Piedmont region.


METHODS
In this prospective, multicentre, observational study, all 3902 patients admitted to a network of 24 ICUs from 17 hospitals during a 180 day period (April 3-September 29, 2006) were included. Patients were followed from the first day of admission until death or ICU discharge.


RESULTS
The incidence of sepsis during the ICU stay was 11.4% (N.=446), corresponding to an incidence of 25 cases/100,000 inhabitants/year; 141 (31.6%) patients had only sepsis, 160 patients had severe sepsis (35.9%) and 145 patients (32.5%) had septic shock In 227 patients (50.9%), sepsis was observed within 48 hours after admission to the ICU, and 219 patients (49.1%) developed ICU-acquired sepsis. The main sources of infection were the lungs, abdomen, and urinary tract. ICU mortality was higher (41.3 vs. 17.3%, P<0.0001) and the median ICU length of stay longer (15 vs. 2 days, P<0.0001) in patients with sepsis than in those without sepsis. The mortality rate increased with the severity of sepsis. ICU-acquired sepsis was associated with higher ICU mortality rates than sepsis occurring within 48 hours of ICU admission (49.8 vs. 33.0%, P<0.0001).


CONCLUSION
Sepsis is a common occurrence in critically ill patients. Our data underscore the regional variability in the epidemiology and outcome of sepsis syndromes and may be useful to guide appropriate resource allocation.