Double Take

The severity of sepsis is notorious. What isn’t so clear is our grasp on global statistics, which inform health policy interventions, resource allocation, and clinical treatment initiatives (1). The newly published Global Burden of Sepsis study – the most comprehensive to date on the incidence and mortality of sepsis – has revealed that true global rates are over double those previously estimated. New figures put the number of cases at 48.9 million and deaths at 11 million around the world in 2017 – a far cry from the previous global estimates of 19.4 million cases and 5.3 million deaths.