Sex differences in long-term survival after intensive care unit treatment for sepsis: A cohort study

• Published in: PloS one 2023-02, Vol.18 (2), p.e0281939-e0281939
• Main Authors: Thompson, Kelly, Hammond, Naomi, Bailey, Michael, Darvall, Jai, Low, Gary, McGloughlin, Steven, Modra, Lucy, Pilcher, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age groups; Aged; Analysis; Australia; Care and treatment; Chronic fatigue syndrome; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Confidence intervals; Demographic aspects; Female; Frailty; Gender differences; Health risks; Hospital Mortality; Humans; Infection; Infections; Intensive care; Intensive Care Units; Length of Stay; Male; Mechanical ventilation; Medicine and Health Sciences; Men; Mortality; Patient admissions; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Physiology; Retrospective Studies; Sepsis; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sex Characteristics; Sex differences; Socioeconomic factors; Survival; Ventilation; Women; Womens health
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281939

To determine the effect of sex on sepsis-related ICU admission and survival for up to 3-years. Retrospective cohort study of adults admitted to Australian ICUs between 2018 and 2020. Men and women with a primary diagnosis of sepsis were included. The primary outcome of time to death for up to 3-years was examined using Kaplan Meier plots. Secondary outcomes included the duration of ICU and hospital stay. Of 523,576 admissions, there were 63,039 (12·0%) sepsis-related ICU admissions. Of these, there were 50,956 patients (43·4% women) with 3-year survival data. Men were older (mean age 66·5 vs 63·6 years), more commonly received mechanical ventilation (27·4% vs 24·7%) and renal replacement therapy (8·2% vs 6·8%) and had worse survival (Hazard Ratio [HR] 1·11; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1·07 to 1·14, P