Impact of COVID-19 on the Incidence, Characteristics, Management and Outcome of Sepsis

Sepsis is the most common cause of death and the most expensive condition among hospitalized patients in the U.S. The delivery of high-quality care for sepsis necessitates optimal institutional functionality and availability of adequate healthcare personnel and resources. However, since the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic hit the U.S., fear of acquisition of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in fewer patients with acute conditions seeking hospitalization. Furthermore, the rapid onslaught of COVID-19 admissions has profoundly strained hospital supplies, personnel and care processes and left little time to re-calibrate the management of other acute conditions that share these resources. As such, the impact on the detection, triage, monitoring, resuscitation, and outcome of patients with sepsis is currently unknown. Large administrative and clinical data repositories of inpatient discharges that are populated in near-real time may enable study of contemporaneous inpatients with COVID-19 and sepsis (without COVID-19) respectively.

We aim to:

Aim 1: Determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of hospital admission for non-COVID-19-related sepsis and septic shock and the proportion of these patients that receive Intensive Care Unit-level care. This analysis will assess for dynamic changes in the number of patients developing and/or seeking hospital care for sepsis and septic shock during the pandemic and whether the burden of critically ill and mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 may have impacted the threshold for providing ICU-level care to patients with sepsis and septic shock

Aim 2: Determine the trend in risk-adjusted mortality among patients admitted with non-COVID-19-related sepsis and septic shock during the pandemic. This analysis will indicate whether being hospitalized for sepsis/septic shock during vs. prior to the pandemic was associated with any change survival. An analysis will be performed to identify prognostic factors associated with non-COVID-19-related sepsis and septic shock.

Aim 3: Determine the impact of COVID-19-specific center-level characteristics (e.g. case volume, multi-ICU status, intubation threshold) on risk-adjusted mortality of non-COVID-19-related sepsis and septic shock during the pandemic period. Identification and modification of pandemic-related triage and processes that impact survival in sepsis may help preserve quality of care when health systems are strained.