NYSOFA, the Sepsis Alliance, and Boston University Launch Free Training to Educate Public on Sepsis

Albany, NY—The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) today announced a partnership with the Sepsis Alliance and Boston University School of Social Work’s Center for Aging & Disability Education & Research (CADER) to educate providers, caregivers, and the general public about the devastating impact of sepsis. The video will help raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of sepsis and help mitigate poor outcomes and death. Sepsis is a word that is not familiar to nearly one-third of the population. Those who have heard about sepsis are usually unable to identify the signs, symptoms, or other basic information about it.

Sepsis, the body’s overwhelming response to infection, kills someone in the U.S. every two minutes, hospitalizes someone every 20 seconds, and is the leading cause of hospital readmissions. It is the most significant source of avoidable hospitalizations in New York’s Medicaid population, costing more than $53 billion in hospital care each year. Sepsis kills and disables millions globally and requires early suspicion and rapid treatment for survival.

Older adults (65+) have more than 13 times the risk of developing sepsis than younger patients (Martin et al., 2006). Increased risk of sepsis among older adults is thought to stem from heightened infection risks and other predisposing conditions associated with the aging process (Girard, Opal, and Ely 2005). Other conditions and circumstances linked to greater sepsis risk among older adults include comorbidities, malnutrition, instrumentation such as catheters, and residence in long-term facilities where resistant bacteria are present (Girard, Opal, and Ely). Research on Medicare beneficiaries provides additional evidence for malnutrition, dementia, and Alzheimer’s as potential risk factors for sepsis (Buchman et al. 2020). Patients who have previously had sepsis are also at increased risk of sepsis (Buchman et al.).

Research among the general population indicates several risk factors that likely extend to older adults. Black patients are at significantly increased risk of sepsis mortality as compared to white patients, as are individuals with lower levels of education, income, and/or material resources (Kempker 2018), limited English proficiency (Jacobs et al. 2019), or a lack of health insurance (Kumar 2014).

The following conditions are thought to underlie the heightened risks of sepsis

and/or sepsis mortality among older adults (Rowe and McCoy 2017):

• Institutionalization (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care, and post-acute care

• Malnutrition

• Frailty and decreased ADLs

• Cognitive impairment and dementia

Comorbidities including:

• COPD

• congestive heart failure

• diabetes

• cancer

• chronic liver failure

• instrumentation (e.g. catheters)

Additional risk factors identified in the U.S. population include:

• Black or African American

• Lower socioeconomic status

• Limited English proficiency

Uninsured

Other findings specific to older adults include:

• Sepsis is 1.96 times more likely to result in readmission to a hospital than non-sepsis hospitalizations.

• More than 40% of older patients have another hospitalization within three months of the initial sepsis, most commonly due to a repeat episode of sepsis or another infection.

• Nursing home residents are more than six times more likely to present with sepsis in the emergency room than non-nursing home residents.

• There are 20,000 new cases of moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment among older adults each year caused explicitly by sepsis.

Director of the New York State Office for the Aging Greg Olsen said,”The impact of sepsis on older adults and families of all ages is sobering and requires us to significantly ramp up outreach and education to identify the signs and symptoms to save lives and to minimize poor outcomes. We are thrilled with this partnership and our joint effort to make the word “sepsis” and its signs and symptoms commonplace in New York State.”

CEO and President of the Home Care Association, Al Cardillo, heralded the initiative as “groundbreaking” in sepsis intervention with the aged, their care providers, and communities across the country. “Director Olsen’s partnership with sepsis experts blazes a new path for New York and sets forth a model for state aging directors across the U.S. on the life-saving importance of sepsis prevention, early identification, and treatment. The Home Care Association eagerly joins in supporting and collaborating in this crucial effort.”

Thomas Heymann, President, and CEO of Sepsis Alliance said, “Sepsis Alliance recognizes that timely recognition and treatment of sepsis saves lives, and this is especially important with vulnerable groups, like the aging population. The New York State Office for the Aging’s commitment to including sepsis in their education is a necessary step towards a healthier population, and we are pleased to support this effort.”

Source: The New York State Office for the Aging