Chinese Epidemiological Study of Severe Sepsis.(CHESS Study)

Sepsis,especially severe sepsis is a major cause of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and death. In USA, the incidence of sepsis is about 3/1000 population. However, the incidence of sepsis varies among different clinic trails. Between 6 and 54% of patients admitted to ICUs have severe sepsis and the mortality rate for these patients varies from 20 to 60%. There is no exactly results of incidence of sepsis in China.

In addition, clinician empirical select antibiotic according to the epidemiology of sepsis, however, the etiology of sepsis is various in different studies. In EPIC II study, the organisms of sepsis include Gram-positive microorganisms (69.8%),Gram-negative microorganisms(62.2%) and fungi (17%). In China, the MDRO is much higher than western country. In contrast to EPIC II study, one study in China showed that the organisms of sepsis include Gram-positive microorganisms (14.5%),Gram-negative microorganisms(62.5%) and fungi (2.2%). Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study about epidemiology of sepsis in China.