BENGALURU: A global study has revealed that India has higher death rate from sepsis, a life-threatening organ dysfunction response to infections, than other South Asian countries except Afghanistan. A study led by US researchers which was recently published in The Lancet, did a global, regional, and national sepsis incidence and mortality analysis for the years 1990-2017. The researchers used the data obtained from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 across 195 countries and territories, 282 underlying causes, both sexes, and 23 age groups for the mentioned years.
The study found that the sepsis death rate is 213 per 1,00,000 people in India, 206 in Pakistan, 183 in Nepal, 136 in Bangladesh, 109 in Bhutan, 69 in Sri Lanka and 27 in Maldives and 285 in Afghanistan.
According to health experts in Karnataka, sepsis has been mainly affecting senior citizens, children, infants and those with low immunity. The increase, according to the study is “largely attributable to the far higher burden among people living in areas with a lower Socio-demographic Index (SDI), for whom data had previously been lacking”, the implications in the study by Kristina Rudd, a critical care specialist at the University of Pittsburgh said.
These findings have several key implications for health policy makers, clinicians, and researchers. “First, the global burden of sepsis is larger than previously appreciated, requiring urgent attention. Second, there is substantial variation in sepsis incidence and mortality according to HAQ Index, with the highest burden in locations that are least equipped to prevent, identify, or treat sepsis,” the study said.The study also recommends infection-prevention measures should be assessed and implemented in areas with the highest incidence of the infection and among populations on which sepsis will have the greatest impact, such
as neonates.
“Patients admitted to hospital for non-infectious conditions could be exposed to infection risk either from invasive devices such as central venous or urinary catheters or through inadequate hand-washing practices among health care workers,” the research suggested.
Dr Amarja Havaldar, assistant professor, Critical Care Medicine, St John’s Hospital said, “Everyday, in ICU alone, we see nearly 20-30 sepsis cases and the mortality rate is 80 per cent. It is high time this condition is taken seriously. Various factors go as to who gets affected with sepsis. It could range from tropical fevers, mosquitoes to even community acquired infections which means exposure to sepsis in hospital,” she explained.