Sepsis and Septic Shock

Sepsis, a syndrome of life-threatening, acute organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated response to infection, is a major global health burden. Worldwide, an estimated 48.9 million cases of sepsis and 11 million related deaths occur annually.1 In the United States, more than one third of in-hospital deaths are attributed to sepsis,2 at costs exceeding $38 billion in 2017, which makes sepsis both the most common cause of in-hospital death and the most expensive cause of hospitalization.3

Derived from the Greek word sepo (σηπω, translated as “I rot”), sepsis has been a leading cause of illness and death for millennia. According to the first modern definition, in 1992, sepsis was described as an overabundant inflammatory response to infection, recognized by the presence of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), which is defined as two or more abnormalities of temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, or white-cell count.4 Sepsis was subsequently reconceptualized as life-threatening acute organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated host response to infection5 (Table 1). SIRS is no longer included in the definition of sepsis, since it may reflect a noninjurious host response, but recognition of the syndrome remains helpful for identifying infection...

Meyer, N. J., & Prescott, H. C. (2024). Sepsis and septic shock. The New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra2403213