Home Health Center Sepsis   Sepsis Prognosis

Prognosis of Sepsis


The prognosis of sepsis is not always poor. However, it depends completely on the age and the health status of the affected person. If the overall health status of the person is good, it would usually mean that with treatment, their health would improve. The earlier you get a diagnosis and get treatment, the better is the prognosis.

For young children, treatment may help decrease the severity of the infection. However, for elderly people, or those with failing health, the immune system is not able to fight off the infection at all. In such a case, if treatment is not given in the early stages, and the infection is not controlled, it may eventually lead to complications and death. In advanced cases of sepsis, the fatality rates are as high as 80%.

The death rate is much lower with people who are healthy and have not had any prior long term illnesses. Overall, the sepsis fatality rate is about 40%. A delay in treatment and frail health prior to the infection can usually complicate the problem further. 
Diagnosis
Treatments
References
  1. James M. O’Brien Jr, Naeem A. Ali, Scott K. Aberegg, Edward Abraham, Sepsis, The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 120, Issue 12, December 2007, Pages 1012-1022, ISSN 0002-9343, 10.1016/j.amjmed.2007.01.035.
  2. Adriana Cristina Galbiati Parminondi Elias, Tiemi Matsuo, Cintia Magalhães Carvalho Grion, Lucienne Tibery Queiroz Cardoso, Paulo Henrique Verri, Incidence and risk factors for sepsis in surgical patients: A cohort study, Journal of Critical Care, Volume 27, Issue 2, April 2012, Pages 159-166, ISSN 0883-9441, 10.1016/j.jcrc.2011.08.001.