The influence of volume and intensive care unit organization on hospital mortality in patients admitted with severe sepsis: a retrospective multicentre cohort study

Table 2 Characteristics and outcome of severe sepsis patients at Dutch ICUs participating in the NICE registry

Characteristic/outcome	Total population of severe sepsis patients (n = 4,605)	Interquartile range over ICUs (n = 28)
Number of patients with severe sepsis	4,605	90.3–239.5
% of total ICU population	13.6	8.0–16.5
Age (years)	64.1 ± 15.4 (67)^a	63.1–66.0^b
Sex (% male)	57.5	55.3–61.6
Severity of illness
SAPS II score	47.3 ± 17.8 (45)^a	44.7–48.9^b
Number of SIRS criteria (%)
Two	12.8	10.5–16.4
Three	37.5	33.2–39.2
Four	49.6	46.0–54.3
Number of organ dysfunctions (%)
One	17.2	15.48–23.5
Two	37.0	30.7–41.2
Three	29.1	26.6–32.4
Four	13.1	8.3–15.9
Five	3.6	0.5–5.3
Type of organ dysfunction (%)^c
Cardiovascular	88.5	83.8–90.9
Renal	23.7	8.4–32.0
Respiratory	80.4	75.4–82.5
Haematological	23.3	17.4–27.0
Metabolic	33.0	28.4–37.3
Outcome (%)
ICU mortality	25.0	21.0–30.1
Hospital mortality	34.7	29.3–41.9

Numbers are based on all patients admitted to ICUs participating in the National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) registry with severe sepsis between 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2005. Results are presented for the total population (second column), and the interquartile range over the ICUs is given (third column). ^aMean ± standard deviation (median). ^bMean per ICU. ^cPercentages do not add up to 100, because a patient can have more than one organ dysfunction. ICU, intensive care unit; SAPS, Simplified Acute Physiology Score; SIRS, systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

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