The comparison of cost according to etiology in sepsis patients hospitalized at adult ICU

INTRODUCTION: Sepsis is the commonest disease with the highest mortality rate in the World. It is the leading cause of death annually. It has a high cost and increases by %12 each year. The cost of treatment of sepsis occupies majority of health expenditure. Early diagnosis, and immediate effective treatment against the susceptible pathogen are the major determinants of success in treatment. In the current study we aimed to determine the difference in the cost of treatment of sepsis according to etiological pathogen types in patients treated at intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: Patients hospitalized in ICU for more than 24 hours at Ahi Evran University Training and Research Hospital between 01.01.2015 – 31.12.2015 diagnosed as sepsis were included in the study. Medical records were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic data, pathogen type, length of stay in hospital, results of ICU stay, antibiotics used, laboratory test costs, treatment maintenance costs, hospitalization costs, drug and medical assets costs were assessed. RESULTS: 670 patients were hospitalized at ICU in the given time period and 52 (7.8%) of them were diagnosed as sepsis. 51.9% (n=27) of the patients were female and 48.1% (n=25) of the patients were male. Mean age of the patients with sepsis was 73.2±12.6 [74(27-98)]. 65.4% (n-34) of the patients were older than 70 years. The most common pathogen isolated was Acinetobacter Baumanni [(n=1, 32.7%)] (Table 1). Respiratory system was the leading source of sepsis.[48.1%, n=25)]. The length of stay at ICU was 13.7±14.3 [10.5(2-97)], Apache scores were between 9 and 39 with a mean of 24 (23.9±7.0) and the mortality rate was 90.4% (n=47). No statistically significant difference was determined between the etiologic pathogen type and age, length of stay at ICU, Apache II score, mortality rate and total treatment cost.(p>0.05) (Table 2, Table 3) DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Sepsis has a wery high mortality rate independent from the etiological pathogen. Majority of the treatment cost and drug costs are constituted by the antibiotics