Researchers believe that sepsis is responsible for many more deaths than figures from hospitals suggest PETER BYRNE/PASepsis is the most deadly condition in the world and kills more people than cancer, scientists have said, after finding that it is responsible for twice as many deaths as thought. The previous global estimate from 2016 put the annual death toll from sepsis, sometimes described as blood poisoning, at 5.3 million deaths with a total of 19.4 million cases. Researchers have said that this estimate was based on data from hospitals in seven relatively wealthy countries including the United States, New Zealand and Sweden. They have now taken into account lower-income countries and included data from deaths that occurred outside of hospitals. This has led them to increase their estimate to 11 million deaths and 48.9 million cases per year worldwide.

Source: The Times January 16, 2020 17:14 UTC