Sepsis and acute renal failure

IntroductionIntroduction

The incidence of sepsis in the United States (US) is rising due, at least in part, to the aging of the population. Epidemiological estimates of US cases of sepsis now exceed 700,000 per year with annual health care costs of approximately $16.7 billion. Sepsis also accounts for 210,000 deaths per year, a number which exceeds deaths from acute heart attacks and equals approximately 10% of all annual deaths in this country. Severe sepsis and septic shock account for most of the morbidity and mortality, but patients may present early with the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and then progress to the more severe syndromes.The incidence of ARF is estimated to be 19% in moderate sepsis, 23% in severe sepsis, and 51% in septic shock. Sepsis-related ARF has been estimated to account for 48% of all cases of ARF. The mortality has been reported to be 73% in the septic patient with ARF as compared to 45% in the non-septic patient with ARF.