Electronic Sepsis Screening Reduces 90-Day In-Hospital Mortality

TUESDAY, Dec. 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Electronic sepsis screening among hospitalized ward patients reduces 90-day in-hospital mortality compared with no screening, according to a study published online Dec. 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the Critical Care Reviews Down Under meeting, held from Dec. 10 to 11 in Melbourne, Australia.

Yaseen M. Arabi, M.D., from King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and colleagues evaluated the effect of electronic sepsis screening compared to no screening on mortality among hospitalized ward patients. The analysis included data from 60,055 patients (29,442 in the screening group and 30,613 in the no-screening group) treated at five hospitals, with 45 wards (clusters) randomly assigned to nine sequences (five wards each, to have sepsis screening implemented at two-month periods).

The researchers found that alerts occurred in 14.6 percent in the screening group and 17.6 percent in the no-screening group. Compared with the no-screening group, within 12 hours of the alert, patients in the screening group were more likely to have serum lactate tested (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 1.30) and intravenous fluid ordered (aRR, 2.17). Electronic screening resulted in lower 90-day in-hospital mortality (aRR, 0.85). While screening reduced vasopressor therapy and multidrug-resistant organisms, it increased code blue activation, incident kidney replacement therapy, and Clostridioides difficile.

“The intervention is continuous, low-cost, reliable, reproducible, unbiased, and sustainable,” the authors write.

One author reported a pending patent.

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