Around 40% of people who develop sepsis are estimated to suffer physical, cognitive, and/or psychological after effects. For most people, these effects will only last a few weeks, but others can face a long road to recovery and develop Post Sepsis Syndrome (PSS).
In the acute phase, sepsis causes several clinical syndromes that are associated with cognitive impairments, including SAE, delirium, sickness behavior, and cerebral ischemia and hemorrhage [93].
Sepsis survivors and family members of people who have had sepsis may find themselves experiencing emotional and psychological challenges that can make it difficult to move forward. Survivors are often told that they have been cured and that they are lucky to have survived.
Nightmares, vivid hallucinations, panic attacks. Disabling muscle and joint pains. Decreased mental (cognitive) function. Loss of self-esteem and self-belief.
Altered mental status is present in up to 23% of patients with sepsis. 7 Mental dysfunction may even precede the cardinal findings of sepsis. 8 When present, SAE is associated with a poor prognosis.
When sepsis occurs, the brain is not spared. Patients may exhibit a variety of neurological and psychological problems including delirium, coma, brain damage, anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Around 40% of people who develop sepsis are estimated to suffer physical, cognitive, and/or psychological after effects. For most people, these effects will only last a few weeks, but others can face a long road to recovery and develop Post Sepsis Syndrome (PSS).
During sepsis, following the propagation of peripheral inflammation, the pro-inflammatory signals reach the brain via impaired BBB segments, and eventually trigger neuroinflammation, which is primarily characterized by the activation of microglia.
These sepsis survivors suffer from additional morbidities such as higher risk of readmissions, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and of death, for years following index sepsis episode.
We also reported the symptoms of septic patients after hospital discharge and the development of the recently called post-sepsis syndrome (PSS). The most common symptoms of the PSS are cognitive disabilities, physical functioning decline, difficulties in performing routine daily activities, and poor life quality.
Patients with severe sepsis have a high ongoing mortality after severe sepsis with only 61% surviving five years. They also have a significantly lower physical QOL compared to the population norm but mental QOL scores were only slightly below population norms up to five years after severe sepsis.
In mild sepsis, complete recovery is possible at a quicker rate. On average, the recovery period from this condition takes about three to ten days, depending on the appropriate treatment response, including medication.
Sepsis is a major cause of death following a traumatic injury. As a life-threatening medical emergency, it is defined as the body's extreme response to an infection.
Sepsis causes an inflammatory response in your body. Severe sepsis occurs when one or more of your body's organs is damaged from this inflammatory response. Any organ can be affected, your heart, brain, kidneys, lungs, and/or liver. The symptoms you can experience are based on which organ or organs that are affected.
The organs more frequently affected are kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, central nervous system, and hematologic system. This multiple organ failure is the hallmark of sepsis and determines patients' course from infection to recovery or death.
The odds of acquiring moderate to severe cognitive impairment were 3.3 times higher following an episode of sepsis than for other hospitalizations.” In addition, one in six survivors find they have difficulty remembering things, concentrating, and making decisions.
"We already know from previous studies that sepsis results in long-term brain dysfunction and that neuroinflammation plays a role in brain injury during the infection," says Singer, who specializes in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine.
The current research suggests that approximately 3 million patients with sepsis whose electroencephalogram (EEG) activity continues to slow down, memory is impaired, and hippocampal volume is reduced (Semmler et al., 2013) will survive with cognitive and functional impairments per year (Perner et al., 2018).
Personality changes can be caused by a mental illness like depression, bipolar disorder, or personality disorders. It may also be caused by physical illnesses like a urinary tract infection (especially in older adults), concussion, or brain tumor. Understanding the cause can help create an effective treatment.
Sepsis is associated with depression-like behavior resulting from the disruption of the BBB, systemic immune dysfunction, and uncontrolled neuroinflammation. Depression can worsen the prognosis of patients with sepsis.
Sepsis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute unexplained crying in infants.
This can cause vital organs to shut down. This usually starts with the kidneys. Blood pressure can drop dangerously low. This can cause less oxygen and nutrients to reach your kidneys.
For example, the “golden hour” as applied to the treatment of critically children and adults with severe sepsis and septic shock is based upon early recognition, early administration of antibiotics, and early reversal of the shock state.
Long-term mortality is often due to the so-called “post-sepsis syndrome”: a phenomenon defined as consistent physical, medical, cognitive, and psychological issues after sepsis [9].