A worldwide perspective of sepsis epidemiology and survival according to age: Observational data from the ICON audit

To investigate age-related differences in outcomes of critically ill patients with sepsis around the world. We performed a secondary analysis of data from the prospective ICON audit, in which all adult (>16 years) patients admitted to participating ICUs between May 8 and 18, 2012, were included, except admissions for routine postoperative observation. For this sub-analysis, the 10,012 patients with completed age data were included. They were divided into five age groups – ≤50, 51–60, 61–70, 71–80, >80 years. Sepsis was defined as infection plus at least one organ failure. A total of 2963 patients had sepsis, with similar proportions across the age groups (≤50 = 25.2%; 51–60 = 30.3%; 61–70 = 32.8%; 71–80 = 30.7%; >80 = 30.9%). Hospital mortality increased with age and in patients >80 years was almost twice that of patients ≤50 years (49.3% vs 25.2%, p 70 years was independently associated with increased risk of dying. The odds for death in ICU patients with sepsis increased with age with the maximal rate of increase occurring between the ages of 71 and 77 years. •The majority of ICU patients with sepsis worldwide are >50 years and 12% are >80.•Hospital mortality was almost twice as high in sepsis patients >80 than ≤50 years.•After adjustment, age > 70 was independently associated with increased risk of death.•Age > 80 was associated with the highest odds ratio for death (1.69, 95%CI 1.31–2.18).•There were no significant between-country differences in the age/mortality association.