The UK Sepsis Trust has commissioned and is fully funding a new study, led by the University of St Andrews, which aims to improve sepsis diagnosis and lead to lifesaving interventions.
The study, entitled Improving Patient Care & Research on Sepsis Scotland (IPCReSS), aims to determine, across an entire population, whether Scottish electronic medical records (EMR) can be used to identify opportunities to diagnose sepsis earlier.
In the UK, five people lose their lives to sepsis every hour. It is a life-threatening condition which arises when the body’s response to infection harms its own tissues and organs. It affects 245,000 people in the UK annually, claiming 48,000 lives. Sepsis can lead to shock, multiple organ failure and death if not recognised early and treated promptly.
The study will involve new ways of analysing routinely collected datasets to assess the feasibility of diagnosing sepsis earlier. Example datasets include patient vital signs, as well as laboratory results, such as blood results. If successful, the study will then explore the potential of using these findings to predict those patients that are at highest risk of delayed diagnosis of sepsis, paving the way towards earlier intervention. The study will take just over a year and might well lead to the development of a national Sepsis Registry in Scotland.
Dr Ron Daniels BEM, founder and Chief Medical Officer at the UK Sepsis Trust, says: “We are delighted to be able to offer full funding to support the University of St Andrews’ IPCReSS study. Sepsis can end or permanently impact lives in a matter of hours, and we believe this study has the power to be a real gamechanger, with potentially lifesaving implications for countless individuals and families. We’re hugely proud to be a part of the IPCReSS initiative and look forward to working with the St Andrews team over the coming year. We hope this will kick-start a move toward precision medicine in the field of sepsis.”
Professor Rank Sullivan, Professor of Primary Care Medicine at the University of St Andrews, and Dr Keith Moffat, Academic Fellow in General Practice, say: “New approaches to the earlier diagnosis and better treatment of sepsis are required. We are delighted to be working with the UK Sepsis Trust on this project using advanced data science methods to identify opportunities and work with patients and their families to improve outcomes. We hope that this early work will contribute to longer-term developments and clinical advances.”
Sepsis arises in people of any age, whether or not they’ve got underlying illness, and although it always starts with an infection (such as pneumonia, chest infections or UTIs), it’s unknown why some people develop sepsis in response to these common infections when others do not. As a result, sepsis presents very differently in each patient and can be challenging to identify. Early diagnosis and swift action are essential to improving outcomes for people with sepsis.