The traditional definition of sepsis requires the presence of at least two systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria in addition to a suspected or proven infection. A recent large retrospective study, however, suggests that the requirement for two SIRS criteria excludes one in eight patients with severe sepsis.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Brun-Buisson, C., Meshaka, P., Pinton, P. & Vallet, B. EPISEPSIS: a reappraisal of the epidemiology and outcome of severe sepsis in French intensive care units. Intensive Care Med. 30, 580–588 (2004).
[No authors listed] American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine Consensus Conference: definitions for sepsis and organ failure and guidelines for the use of innovative therapies in sepsis. Crit. Care Med. 20, 864–874 (1992).
Kaukonen, K., Bailey, M., Pilcher, D., Cooper, D. J. & Bellomo, R. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria in defining severe sepsis. N. Engl. J. Med. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1415236.
Angus, D. C. & Van der Poll, T. Severe sepsis and septic shock. N. Engl. J. Med. 369, 840–851 (2013).
Hotchkiss, R. S., Monneret, G. & Payen, D. Immunosuppression in sepsis: a novel understanding of the disorder and a new therapeutic approach. Lancet Infect. Dis. 13, 260–268 (2013).
Kumar, A. et al. Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in septic shock. Crit. Care Med. 35, 1589–1596 (2006).
Rivers, E. et al. Early goal-directed therapy in the treatment of severe sepsis and septic shock. N. Engl. J. Med. 345, 1369–1377 (2001).
Dellinger, R. P. et al. Surviving sepsis campaign: International guidelines for management of severe sepsis and septic shock: 2012. Crit. Care Med. 41, 580–637 (2013).
Makam, A. N., Nguyen, O. K. & Auerback, A. D. Diagnostic accuracy and effectiveness of automated electronic sepsis alert systems: a systematic review. J. Hosp. Med. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jhm.2347.
Drewry, A. M., Fuller, B. M., Bailey, T. C. & Hotchkiss, R. S. Body temperature patterns as a predictor of hospital-acquired sepsis in afebrile adult intensive care unit patients: a case-control study. Crit. Care 17, R200 (2013).
Acknowledgements
A.M.D. is supported by the Foundation for Anaesthesia Education and Research and the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences grant UL1 TR000448 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. R.S.H. is supported by NIH grants GM 44118 and GM 55194.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
R.S.H. has received grant support from MedImmune, Bristol–Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Agennix and Aurigene. A.M.D. declares no competing interests.
PowerPoint slides
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Drewry, A., Hotchkiss, R. Revising definitions of sepsis. Nat Rev Nephrol 11, 326–328 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.66
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.66
