Sepsis Survivors at High Risk for Readmission, Study Says

A new study published in American Journal of Critical Care finds that “sepsis survivors remain at significant risk for readmission, with unexpectedly high rates of returning to the hospital for those discharged to home health care or home settings.” AACN has the release.

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign has “led to a significant decrease in sepsis prevalence and nearly 30% decrease in sepsis-related deaths from 1990 through 2017. As a result of these successes, the focus has shifted from in-hospital survival to post-discharge morbidity and mortality for the growing number of sepsis survivors.”

This study found that “patients were often discharged to inappropriate settings, placing them at increased risk for residual sepsis and readmission.” According to co-author Priscilla Hartley, “multiple readmissions stemmed from patients considered well enough to be discharged home or to home health care, often due to another episode of sepsis or another infection.”

The study sample “included 7,107 adult patients with at least one initial admission with a diagnosis of sepsis and/or septic shock who survived to be discharged from the hospital. Of these, 1,674 (23.6%) were readmitted within 30 days of discharge.” Among those readmitted, “the most common readmission diagnoses were related to infection, with 68.3% including another episode of sepsis. About 30% of those who were readmitted between one and three times, often driven by infection.”