The microbiology and outcome of sepsis in Victoria, Australia

Abstract

We analysed data from 33741 patients with ICD-10-AM-defined sepsis from an Australian hospital morbidity dataset to investigate the relationships between specific types of organisms, potential risk factors for infection, organ dysfunction, ICU utilization and hospital mortality. A total of 24% of patients received some of their care in an intensive care unit, and the overall hospital mortality rate was 18%. Gram-positive bacteria were isolated in 27% of cases and Gram-negative bacteria in 20%. Sepsis due to Staphylococcus aureus was associated with vascular and joint devices whereas Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Gram-negative rods were more common with genitourinary devices and lymphoproliferat..