%0 Journal Article
%T Population sepsis incidence, mortality, and trends in Hong Kong between 2009-2018 using clinical and administrative data.
%A Ling L
%A Zhang JZ
%A Chang LC
%A Chiu LCS
%A Ho S
%A Ng PY
%A Dharmangadan M
%A Lau CH
%A Ling S
%A Man MY
%A Fong KM
%A Liong T
%A Yeung AWT
%A Au GKF
%A Chan JKH
%A Tang M
%A Liu YZ
%A Wu WKK
%A Wong WT
%A Wu P
%A Cowling BJ
%A Lee A
%A Rhee C
%J Clin Infect Dis
%V 0
%N 0
%D 2023 Aug 19
%M 37596856
%F 20.999
%R 10.1093/cid/ciad491
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Sepsis surveillance using electronic health record (EHR)-based data may provide more accurate epidemiologic estimates than administrative data, but experience with this approach to estimate population-level sepsis burden is lacking.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>This was a retrospective cohort study including all adults admitted to publicly-funded hospitals in Hong Kong between 2009-2018. Sepsis was defined as clinical evidence of presumed infection (clinical cultures and treatment with antibiotics) and concurrent acute organ dysfunction (≥2 point increase in baseline SOFA score). Trends in incidence, mortality, and case fatality risk (CFR) were modelled by exponential regression. Performance of the EHR-based definition was compared with 4 administrative definitions using 500 medical record reviews.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>Among 13,550,168 hospital episodes during the study period, 485,057 (3.6%) had sepsis by EHR-based criteria with 21.5% CFR. In 2018, age- and sex-adjusted standardized sepsis incidence was 759 per 100,000 (relative +2.9%/year [95%CI 2.0, 3.8%] between 2009-2018) and standardized sepsis mortality was 156 per 100,000 (relative +1.9%/year [95%CI 0.9,2.9%]). Despite decreasing CFR (relative -0.5%/year [95%CI -1.0, -0.1%]), sepsis accounted for an increasing proportion of all deaths (relative +3.9%/year [95%CI 2.9, 4.9%]). Medical record reviews demonstrated that the EHR-based definition more accurately identified sepsis than administrative definitions (AUC 0.91 vs 0.52-0.55, p < 0.001).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>An objective EHR-based surveillance definition demonstrated an increase in population-level standardized sepsis incidence and mortality in Hong Kong between 2009-2018 and was much more accurate than administrative definitions. These findings demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of an EHR-based approach for widescale sepsis surveillance.