Purpose: Sepsis in severely injured patients is one of the leading causes of death in hospitals. The incidence of and risk factors for sepsis after trauma have been studied outside, but not within Korea. Therefore, this study investigated the incidence of sepsis and the independent risk factors for sepsis in moderately to severely injured patients in Korea.
Methods: The electronic medical records of patients who visited the emergency department from January 2010 to December 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. Patients older than 18 years of age with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) greater than or equal to nine points were included.
Results: A total of 183 patients met the study inclusion criteria. The median ISS was 14 (range 9-17) points and 15 (8 %) patients developed sepsis. The patients' age [adjusted OR, 1.053; 95 % confidence intervals (CI), 1.015-1.094], ISS (adjusted OR, 1.114; 95 % CI, 1.046-1.187), and emergency surgery (adjusted OR, 3.727; 95 % CI, 1.051-13.221) were independent risk factors for post-traumatic sepsis.
Conclusions: Among the risk factors identified in the literature, our research confirmed only the patients' age and ISS as risk factors for sepsis after trauma, and, additionally, identified emergency surgery as a risk factor in Korean patients. Therefore, trauma patients who have any of the risk factors mentioned above have a high risk of post-traumatic sepsis, which requires certain precautionary clinical measures.
Keywords: Injury; Risk factor; Sepsis; Trauma.