Sepsis, een gecompliceerd syndroom met belangrijke medische en maatschappelijke consequenties

- Severe sepsis is a life-threatening complication of infection. Due to associated organ-failure treatment in an Intensive Care Unit is usually indicated.

- Since sepsis is defined by the combination and progression of clinical events, correct definitions are essential to enable good comparison between study results and determination of suitable treatment.

- Severe sepsis is associated with a mortality of 20-60 and decreases the health-related quality of life in survivors.

- It is estimated that annually in the Netherlands 9000 patients are admitted to an Intensive Care Unit with severe sepsis.

- Direct medical costs of severe sepsis are estimated at € 19,500 per patient. Costs correlate strongly with the length of stay. Annually € 168,6 million is spent on severe sepsis, which represents 0.5 of all health-care costs and 1.7 of the annual hospital budget in the Netherlands.