SARS-CoV-2 caused about one in six cases of sepsis from March 2020 to November 2022, according to an analysis across multiple Boston hospitals published in JAMA Network Open. Chanu Rhee, MD, MPH, and colleagues examined EHRs from five Mass General Brigham hospitals to track the rate of COVID-associated sepsis. The researchers identified more than 430,000 hospitalizations among more than 260,000 people. An estimated 5.4% of hospitalizations were due to COVID-19 infections; of those patients, 28.2% had sepsis associated with COVID-19. The fatality rate among patients with COVID-19 and sepsis was approximately 33% in the first 3 months of the pandemic, but that rate declined over time to approximately 14.5%, which is a rate similar to fatalities associated with bacterial. Dr. Rhee and colleagues said that the findings show EHRs can serve as a framework for research about sepsis that is associated with viruses, including influenza and RSV. Further, “sepsis is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ entity, but one that requires clinicians to tailor their diagnosis and treatment strategy to each patient’s syndrome and probable pathogen,” a coauthor said in a statement.
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