Patient characteristics and management
| All patients (n=331) | |
| Male sex, n (%) | 168 (50.8) |
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 63.4 (17.3) |
| Mortality, n (%) | 38 (11.5) |
| Severity of sepsis, n (%) | |
| Sepsis | 219 (66.2), mortality 3.7% |
| Severe sepsis | 99 (29.9), mortality 22.2% |
| Septic shock | 13 (3.9), mortality 61.5% |
| Issue at presentation*, n (%) | |
| Fever/cold chills | 191 (57.7) |
| Gastrointestinal | 76 (23.0) |
| Respiratory | 56 (16.9) |
| Mental state disturbance | 48 (14.5) |
| ‘Sepsis’ | 13 (3.9) |
| Urinary | 10 (3.0) |
| Other issues | 40 (12.1) |
| Focus of infection†, n (%) | |
| Lower respiratory tract | 80 (24.2) |
| Urinary tract | 62 (18.7) |
| Gastrointestinal tract | 28 (8.5) |
| Skin/joint | 23 (6.9) |
| Hepatobiliary tract | 18 (5.4) |
| Other focus of infection | 86 (26.0) |
| Comorbidity*, n (%) | |
| Malignancy | 116 (35.0) |
| Cardiovascular | 60 (18.1) |
| Diabetes mellitus | 56 (16.9) |
| Neurological | 34 (10.3) |
| Congestive heart failure | 23 (6.9) |
| Psychiatric (including dementia) | 22 (6.6) |
| Prognostic indicators | |
| MEDS score, mean (SD) | 5.9 (4.4) |
| C reactive protein (mg/litre), mean (SD), n=326 | 152.7 (131.1) |
| Lactate (mmol/litre), mean (SD), n=47 | 4.3 (4.2) |
| Treatment | |
| Location of antibiotic administration, n (%) | |
| Emergency department | 181 (54.7) |
| Ward | 106 (32.0) |
| No antibiotics | 44 (13.3) |
| Unit of admittance‡ | |
| Regular ward | 301 (91.8) |
| Medium care unit | 10 (3.0) |
| Intensive care unit | 17 (5.2) |
↵* Some patients had more than one issue at presentation or comorbidity.
↵† In all, 34 patients (10.3%) did not have an infection as the cause of their symptoms, 9 (26.5%) of these had malignancy.
↵‡ Three persons died in the emergency department and were therefore not admitted to any unit.
MEDS, Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis.