title: Severe sepsis in intensive care units in Poland--a point prevalence study in 2012 and 2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Severe sepsis is associated with a high mortality rate, but the detailed epidemiology of sepsis is not well known in Polish hospitals. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and incidence of severe sepsis in Polish intensive care units (ICUs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two one-day, point-prevalence studies were performed on March 8th, 2012 and March 13th, 2013. An online questionnaire was sent to 320 accredited ICUs. Demographic data regarding hospitals, ICUs, number of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, and number of patients mechanically ventilated with a central catheter or a urinary catheter were collected. The one-day prevalence of severe sepsis in ICUs was calculated, and the annual incidence of severe sepsis in Poland was estimated from the prevalence rate and the mean length of stay in ICUs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1398 patients participated in the study in 2012, which accounted for 50% of all ICU beds registered by the National Health Care (NHC) system; 860 patients participated in 2013 (30% of all ICU beds). The daily prevalence of severe sepsis in ICUs was 26% in 2012 and 22% in 2013. Based on the data provided by the NHC system, the number of severe sepsis patients treated in accredited ICUs in Poland amounted to 24,905 patients per year, and the incidence of severe sepsis was 65/100,000 cases per year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Severe sepsis was observed in one-fourth of patients treated in ICUs in Poland. However, the actual number of severe sepsis patients is at least 2 times higher because many patients with severe sepsis were treated outside accredited ICUs. Severe sepsis constitutes a major health problem in Poland.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy, Wrocław Medical University, Poland 2Wrocław University Hospital, Poland. kai@umed.wroc.pl.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kübler
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Adamik
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ciszewicz-Adamiczka
authors.forename: Elżbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ostrowska
mesh_terms: D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D018805:Sepsis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014546:Urinary Catheterization
keywords: incidence; intensive care unit; prevalence; septic shock; severe sepsis