Severe Covid 19 patients often have sepsis
Sepsis can result in cardiovascular diseases, cognitive or motor disorders or depression
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Three quarters of all sepsis survivors are affected by newly added memory disorders, mental or physical illnesses. This is shown by a new study that examined Covid 19 patients. The malfunctions can remain permanent.
D.he majority of Covid-19 patients with a severe course have sepsis according to analyzes. A new evaluation shows how much the dangerous malfunction can affect life in the long term.
Three quarters of all sepsis survivors are accordingly affected by newly added memory disorders, mental or physical illnesses. For those who at the time of sepsis were younger than 40, it is still around half as German researchers in Journal “Jama Network Open” to report.
The team from the Charité in Berlin, the Jena University Hospital (UKJ) and the AOK Scientific Institute evaluated anonymised data from more than 23 million AOK insured persons from 2009 to 2017 in order to determine the frequency and costs of the health consequences of sepsis determine.
Almost 159,700 of those insured over 15 years of age had been hospitalized for sepsis in 2013 or 2014. For them, the previous illnesses as well as new diagnoses in the three years after the sepsis and the resulting need for treatment and care were recorded. “We were looking for new physical, psychological and cognitive limitations that are known to occur as a result of sepsis – such as cardiovascular diseases, cognitive or motor disorders, the fatigue syndrome or depressions“, Explained the project manager Carolin Fleischmann-Struzek from UKJ.
An organ malfunction caused by an excessive immune reaction to an infection is referred to as sepsis. One consequence of the tissue destruction associated with the immune reaction can be that organs such as the kidney or liver no longer work. Worldwide, sepsis is the leading cause of infection-related death, as the experts explain. In Germany, around 320,000 cases are treated in the hospital every year, the mortality in the clinic is around 25 percent – and therefore “alarmingly high”.
In the first year after discharge alone, according to the analysis, three quarters of the sepsis survivors received a new diagnosis, and more than 30 percent died in the first year. “Psychological, cognitive and physical consequences affect the majority of survivors and often occur together, which is a particular burden for those affected,” said Christiane Hartog from the Charité. It makes little difference whether the sepsis was less severe or whether it had to be treated in the intensive care unit. “This is of great relevance, particularly with regard to the sequelae of infection after Covid-19.”
More than 30 percent of the sepsis survivors were in need of care in the year after they were discharged from the hospital, it said. The experts put the average costs incurred by the survivors for inpatient and outpatient treatment, rehabilitation, remedies and medication at 29,000 euros per case in the first three years after the illness alone. Emergency and transport costs, aids, care costs and indirect costs such as lost work are not included.
The researchers caution that there could have been an under-reporting due to the low level of awareness of the consequences of sepsis among patients and doctors. Also, only new diagnoses could have been included, but not accelerated progress of existing diagnoses. It should also be taken into account in the analysis that it does not depict any causal relationships, but rather recorded them statistically. It cannot be ruled out that there may be differences compared to those not insured with the AOK.