Clinical epidemiology and outcomes of community acquired infection and sepsis among hospitalized patients in a resource limited setting in Northeast Thailand: A prospective observational study (Ubon-sepsis)

Infection and sepsis are leading causes of death worldwide but the epidemiology and outcomes are not well understood in resource-limited settings. We conducted a four-year prospective observational study from March 2013 to February 2017 to examine the clinical epidemiology and outcomes of adults admitted with community-acquired infection in a resource-limited tertiary-care hospital in Ubon Ratchathani province, Northeast Thailand. Hospitalized patients with infection and accompanying systemic manifestations of infection within 24 hours of admission were enrolled. Subjects were classified as having sepsis if they had a modified sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score ≥2 at enrollment. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02217592. A total of 4,989 patients were analyzed. Of the cohort, 2,659 (53%) were male and the median age was 57 years (range 18–101). Of these, 1,173 (24%) patients presented primarily to the study hospital, 3,524 (71%) were transferred from 25 district hospitals or 8 smaller hospitals in the province, and 292 (6%) were transferred from one of 30 hospitals in other provinces. Three thousand seven hundred and sixteen (74%) patients were classified as having sepsis. Patients with sepsis had an older age distribution and a greater prevalence of comorbidities compared to patients without sepsis. Twenty eight-day mortality was 21% (765/3,716) in sepsis and 4% (54/1,273) in non-sepsis patients (p