48.9 million suffer from sepsis yearly world wide

A new sensational study performed by an international research team, which was published yesterday in The Lancet, reveals that double the number of individuals who die globally in sepsis each year is double that which was previously thought to be the case . Among the cases of disease, children in poor countries are affected the most.

The study, which is the most comprehensive clinical study ever done on sepsis, shows that as many as 48.9 million people were affected by sepsis in 2017 globally and 11 million died as a cause of sepsis. This means that 1 out of 5 deaths are linked to sepsis globally.

The study shows that around 85% of all sepsis cases occur in low or middle-income countries – especially countries south of the Sahara in Africa, islands in the Pacific Ocean, and south, east, and southeast Asia. Sepsis is more common in women than in men, but it is most common in children under 5 years – 40% of those who suffer from sepsis each year globally are under 5 years of age. 

– This research shows how urgent it is to get decision-makers, the health care sector, clinics and scientists to work together to achieve robust, national strategies similar to the appeal from WHO  in the sepsis-resolution call  says Konrad Reinhart, Chairman of Global Sepsis Alliance.

Read the article in full in The Lancet.