Big Data Detects Sepsis In Major Hospitals

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Data analytics have found that large medical facilities have higher rates of death from sepsis than their smaller hospital counterparts.

Researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital recently used Big Data analytics to learn more about development and outcomes of sepsis in hospital settings. The results of this study, published in the journal Medical Care, show better understanding of the condition could lead to better outcomes and cost savings.

Health IT Analytics explains sepsis is not only dangerous, but it causes approximately 5 percent of the total cost of all hospitalizations in the United States.

The goal for researchers was “to establish a baseline for the incidence of sepsis by severity and presence on admission in acute care hospital settings before implementation of a broad sepsis screening and response initiative.”

By examining discharge data for 5,672 patients, collected through SERRI, or Sepsis Early Recognition and Response Initiative, they were able to use de-identified data to uncover insights about the development of sepsis in patients. The data produced through this process can be used as a screening tool and to educate hospital staff.

Researchers found 85 percent of sepsis patients had the condition on admission and the rest acquired it at the hospital. Additionally, the inpatient death rate was 17.2 percent overall, and was highest for hospital-acquired sepsis and the mortality rate was 38.6 percent for sepsis acquired in the medical setting and 29.2 percent when the condition was related to surgery.

The type of hospital was also a factor, patients at academic medical centers experienced a 22.5 percent mortality rate, while the death rate was only 15.1 percent at community facilities. Researchers note academic facilities tend to care for more complex cases of sepsis, as well as patients with organ transplants, cardiac assist devices, and using extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support who have a higher risk of developing sepsis.

“At present, most attention seems to be focused on the early recognition and prompt treatment of sepsis in hospitalized patients,” concluded researchers. “However, the findings of our study reinforce the necessity of obtaining much more information about what is happening to patients hospitalized for or with sepsis before they are admitted and, if they survive, after they are discharged.”