48,000 UK deaths linked to sepsis, screening tools fail half the time

A major study has just dropped some serious stats on the state of sepsis detection in the UK.

It turns out that around 48,000 peeps lose their lives to sepsis every year. To exacerbate matters, healthcare professionals are failing to spot this killer condition most of the time due to flawed screening tools, according to a recent report by The Guardian Mail.

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Sepsis - The deadliest condition that goes undetected

Many of the cases go unnoticed (Image via Unsplash/Brian Mcgowan)

Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, is a deadly condition that's wreaking havoc in the UK.

However, doctors, the NHS and health charities have been warning for years that too many cases of these extreme blood poisoning are going unnoticed. That means people are either suffering severe consequences or dying because it's is so difficult to detect.

When a patient isn't diagnosed quickly, their immune system goes for a toss, attacking their organs and vital tissues. It's as gruesome as it sounds. Shock, organ failure and death are just a few of the frightening consequences.

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Blood poisoning goes undetected: alarming study suggests half of sepsis screenings do not work

Most of the tools arent able to detect. (Image via Unsplash/CDC)

Researchers from Germany have uncovered some serious flaws in two of the four screening tools healthcare employees use worldwide to identify these cases.

The systems in question are NEWS2 (National Early Warning Score), qSOFA (quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment), MEWS (Modified Early Warning Score) and SIRS (Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome).

These researchers scrutinized the records of over 220,000 patients in Germany who received treatment from emergency health workers outside the hospital in 2016.

The most shocking findings are – only one of these four screening tools, NEWS2, showed somewhat accurate prediction rates for the deadly cases. The researchers said:

"NEWS2 managed to nail it, predicting 72.2% of all sepsis cases correctly and identifying 81.4% of non-septic cases."

Here's the harsh truth, though – paramedics hardly ever suspected sepsis, and emergency service doctors only flagged it in a tiny 0.1% of cases.

While doctors are fairly decent in spotting heart attacks and strokes, sepsis cases slip right under their noses. As a result, a staggering 31.4% of these patients in the study ended up six feet under within 30 days.

In comparison, only 13.4% of heart attack patients and 11.8% of stroke victims died. These are some alarming numbers.

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Urgent need for better screening and early detection

Researchers and healthcare are working on indentifying thr symptoms. (Image via Unsplash/Towfiqu Barbhuiya)

Before you freak out, it's important to note that the aforementioned findings haven't been peer-reviewed yet. They were dropped in at this week's European Emergency Medicine Congress in Barcelona.

NHS England wants everyone to know that they're already using the best screening tool available, NEWS2. They're also backing up a new initiative called "Martha's rule," named after a 13-year-old who tragically died from sepsis.

This tool will give patients and their families the right to a second opinion if they aren't happy with their diagnosis or treatment. To minimize the risk of missing a deadly diagnosis, it has been recommended that trained clinicians get involved early, using tools like NEWS2 as a regular routine.

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Paying attention to the study's findings is crucial, as they reveal some important stuff about sepsis detection. This case of extreme blood poisoning is not something to be treated lightly, as it can end someone's life if not treated on time and with skill.