New Sepsis-3 Definitions Await Confirmatory Data

Since publication of Sepsis-3, substantial debate has occurred about how and when to incorporate these new definitions into practice.

In February 2016, the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Society of Critical Care Medicine Third International Consensus Task Force published “Sepsis-3” — new definitions for sepsis and septic shock. Sepsis is defined as “life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection,” and septic shock is defined as “a subset of sepsis in which underlying circulatory and cellular/metabolic abnormalities are profound enough to substantially increase mortality” (NEJM JW Gen Med Mar 15 2016 and JAMA 2016; 315:775).

These new definitions eliminate use of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria and, instead, quantify organ dysfunction through the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) s…

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Patricia Kritek, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsATS Scholar

Patricia Kritek, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsATS Scholar

New Sepsis-3 Definitions Await Confirmatory Data

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