Challenges of assessing the burden of sepsis

Sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide, but the recording of population-based epidemiology is challenging, which is why reliable data on sepsis incidence and mortality are only available in a few, mostly highly-resourced countries.

The aim of this narrative review is to provide an overview of sepsis epidemiology worldwide and in Germany based on current literature, to identify challenges in this research area, and to give an outlook on future developments.

Selective literature review. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for current literature. The results were processed narratively.

Based on modeling studies or meta-analyses of prospective studies, global annual sepsis incidence was found to be 276-678/100,000 persons. Case fatality ranged from 22.5 to 26.7%. However, current data sources have several limitations, as administrative data of selected individual countries-mostly with high income-were used as their basis. In these administrative data, sepsis is captured with limited validity. Prospective studies using clinical data often have limited comparability or lack population reference.

There is a lack of reliable data sources and definitions to monitor the epidemiology of sepsis and collect reliable global estimates. Increased policy efforts and new scientific approaches are needed to improve our understanding of sepsis epidemiology, identify vulnerable populations, and develop and target effective interventions.