Understanding the sepsis mortality belt: time to buckle down!

Despite a documented decrease in sepsis-associated mortality in the developed world over the past decade, sepsis remains a major public health problem that claims more than 200,000 deaths each year in the United States (US) alone (1,2). The ongoing challenge to understand the complex biological mechanisms underlying susceptibility to infection and organ dysfunction and its associated mortality is complemented by the persistent need for high-quality clinical epidemiology studies that provide investigators and health-policy makers with updated data about disease patterns.