title: Public Awareness of Sepsis Is Low in Sweden.
abstract: Background.  Sepsis is a serious and common condition with high mortality and morbidity. The public awareness, knowledge, and perception of sepsis in Sweden are unknown. Methods.  A survey was performed using an online interview distributed to adults, aged 18-74, between March 6 and 9, 2015. Results.  A total of 1001 people responded to the survey. Twenty-one percent of participants had heard of sepsis, whereas more than 86% had heard of each of the other conditions listed; for example, stroke (95%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (95%), and leukemia (92%). Of those who had heard of sepsis, 93% responded that it is an infection or blood poisoning in an open question. The respondents who had heard of each disease estimated its mortality. For sepsis, the mortality was estimated at an average of 30%, which was at the same level as estimated mortalities for prostate and breast cancer but lower than for stroke, COPD, and leukemia. Conclusions.  The awareness and knowledge of sepsis is low. The mortality for sepsis is not as overestimated as for many other diseases. The lack of awareness of sepsis might be a target to improve the outcome for sepsis patients by reducing the prehospital delay and hence enable early interventions. An increased general awareness might also raise interest for funding for research in this area and for its priority in healthcare support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Infection Medicine , Klinikgatan 1, Skåne University Hospital , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mellhammar
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Infection Medicine , Klinikgatan 1, Skåne University Hospital , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Bertil
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Christensson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Infection Medicine , Klinikgatan 1, Skåne University Hospital , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Linder
keywords: awareness; knowledge; sepsis; septic chock; severe sepsis