Key facts

• Sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide, but there are challenges in collecting reliable data at the population level 

• From data published in 2020, there were 48.9 million cases and 11 million sepsis-related deaths worldwide, representing 20% of all global deaths.

• Almost half (20 million) of all estimated sepsis cases worldwide occurred in children under 5 years of age.

• For every 1000 hospitalized patients, an estimated 15 patients will develop sepsis as a complication of receiving health care.

• While sepsis can affect any individual worldwide, significant regional disparities in incidence and mortality exist with the highest rates in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs).

• Sepsis is costly; the average hospital-wide cost of sepsis was estimated to be more than US$ 32 000 per patient in high-income countries.

Source: World Health Organisation

Read about my sepsis experience here.