Determinants of sepsis knowledge: a representative survey of the elderly population in Germany

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Abstract

Background

Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency requiring early diagnosis and urgent treatment. Knowledge is crucial, especially in major risk groups such as the elderly. We therefore assessed sophisticated knowledge about sepsis in the German elderly population.

Methods

A telephone survey was carried out with a representative sample of 701 Germans from 16 federal states and a separate cohort of 700 participants from Thuringia, all aged ≥ 60 years. Sepsis knowledge was assessed via a 10-item questionnaire. Sociodemographic data and health information sources were assessed to identify determinants of sepsis knowledge.

Results

Of the participants, 88.6% had heard the term “sepsis” before; however, 50% of these failed to define sepsis correctly. Even if the knowledge of symptoms was moderately good, most participants could not correctly identify causes of sepsis and underestimated its incidence. Only a minority was aware that immunization may prevent sepsis. Regressions revealed that being younger, better educated and living in rural areas predicted higher levels of sepsis knowledge. Pharmacists were a relevant source of sepsis information.

Conclusions

Despite overall awareness of sepsis, the understanding of its risk factors, symptoms and prevention is low in the elderly, with important implications for emergency and intensive care. We suggest further educational measures to improve early sepsis recognition and prevention through vaccination.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13054-018-2208-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

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Author and article information

Contributors

Sarah Eitze:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6542-9359

+49-361-737-1633 , sarah.eitze@uni-erfurt.de

Carolin Fleischmann-Struzek: Carolin.Fleischmann@med.uni-jena.de

Cornelia Betsch: cornelia.betsch@uni-erfurt.de

Konrad Reinhart: Konrad.Reinhart@med.uni-jena.de

: studien60plus@uni-erfurt.de

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Crit Care

Title: Critical Care

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Print): 1364-8535

ISSN (Electronic): 1466-609X

Publication date (Electronic): 28 October 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 28 October 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 22

Electronic Location Identifier: 273

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2359 2414, GRID grid.32801.38, Center for Empirical Research in Economics and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Social Media and Communication Sciences, , University of Erfurt, ; Nordhaeuser Strasse 63, 99089 Erfurt, Germany

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0000 8517 6224, GRID grid.275559.9, Integrated Research and Treatment Center for Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC), , Jena University Hospital, ; Jena, Germany

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0000 8517 6224, GRID grid.275559.9, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, , Jena University Hospital, ; Jena, Germany

Author information

Sarah Eitze http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6542-9359

Article

Publisher ID: 2208

DOI: 10.1186/s13054-018-2208-5

PMC ID: 6204268

PubMed ID: 30368239

SO-VID: 5807f727-8ec5-4a7e-866a-54b2ddff6a14

License:

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.