Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30247269›Full record

ArticleCritical care medicine2019

A Comparison of Mortality From Sepsis in Brazil and England: The Impact of Heterogeneity in General and Sepsis-Specific Patient Characteristics.

Otavio T Ranzani, Manu Shankar-Hari, David A Harrison, Lígia S Rabello, Jorge I F Salluh, Kathryn M Rowan, Marcio Soares

Abstract readComparative Study
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Critical care medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Understanding and Enhancing Sepsis Survivorship. Priorities for Research and Practice.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2019
    Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Observational
  10. Review
  11. Observational
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Otavio T RanzaniIntensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC), London, United Kingdom.
Manu Shankar-HariIntensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC), London, United Kingdom.
David A HarrisonIntensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC), London, United Kingdom.
Lígia S RabelloDepartment of Critical Care and Graduate Program in Translational Medicine, D'Or Institute for Research and Education - IDOR, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Jorge I F SalluhDepartment of Critical Care and Graduate Program in Translational Medicine, D'Or Institute for Research and Education - IDOR, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Kathryn M RowanIntensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC), London, United Kingdom.
Marcio SoaresDepartment of Critical Care and Graduate Program in Translational Medicine, D'Or Institute for Research and Education - IDOR, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Funding

Department of Health 16/33/01Department of Health CS-2016-16-011Department of Health EME/16/33/01Department of Health NIHR-CS-2016-16-011
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo test whether differences in both general and sepsis-specific patient characteristics explain the observed differences in sepsis mortality between countries, using two national critical care (ICU) databases.

designCohort study.

settingWe analyzed 62 and 164 ICUs in Brazil and England, respectively. PATIENTS: Twenty-two-thousand four-hundred twenty-six adult ICU admissions from January 2013 to December 2013.

interventionsNone. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN

resultsAfter harmonizing relevant variables, we merged the first ICU episode of adult medical admissions from Brazil (ORganizational CHaractEeriSTics in cRitical cAre study) and England (Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre Case Mix Programme). Sepsis-3 definition was used, and the primary outcome was hospital mortality. We used multilevel logistic regression models to evaluate the impact of country (Brazil vs England) on mortality, after adjustment for general (age, sex, comorbidities, functional status, admission source, time to admission) and sepsis-specific (site of infection, organ dysfunction type and number) patient characteristics. Of medical ICU admissions, 13.2% (4,505/34,150) in Brazil and 30.7% (17,921/58,316) in England met the sepsis definition. The Brazil cohort was older, had greater prevalence of severe comorbidities and dependency compared with England. Respiratory was the most common infection site in both countries. The most common organ dysfunction was cardiovascular in Brazil (41.2%) and respiratory in England (85.8%). Crude hospital mortality was similar (Brazil 41.4% vs England 39.3%; odds ratio, 1.12 [0.98-1.30]). After adjusting for general patient characteristics, there was an important change in the point-estimate of the odds ratio (0.88 [0.75-1.02]). However, after adjusting for sepsis-specific patient characteristics, the direction of effect reversed again with Brazil having higher risk-adjusted mortality (odds ratio, 1.22 [1.05-1.43]).

conclusionsPatients with sepsis admitted to ICUs in Brazil and England have important differences in general and sepsis-specific characteristics, from source of admission to organ dysfunctions. We show that comparing crude mortality from sepsis patients admitted to the ICU between countries, as currently performed, is not reliable and that the adjustment for both general and sepsis-specific patient characteristics is essential for valid international comparisons of mortality amongst sepsis patients admitted to critical care units.

Indexed as

Intensive Care UnitsAgedAge DistributionBrazilCardiovascular DiseasesCohort StudiesComorbidityDatasets as TopicEnglandFemaleHospital MortalityHumansLength of StayLogistic ModelsMaleMiddle Aged

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.