Francesco Campanelli1, Giovanni Landoni2,3, Luca Cabrini1, Alberto Zangrillo1,3. 1. Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, San Raffaele Scientific Institute for Research and Care, Milan, Italy. 2. Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, San Raffaele Scientific Institute for Research and Care, Milan, Italy - landoni.giovanni@hsr.it. 3. Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The world population is mostly male at birth, although there is a shift in predominance over 55 years of age with more females than males. Male gender was recently hypothesized to be a risk factor for sepsis and septic shock; the reasons and the consequences of this odd discrepancy are yet a matter of debate. We investigated the percentage of males and females in a large number of trials performed on septic adult patients admitted to Intensive Care Units. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We analyzed all the multicenter randomized controlled trials ever published in peer-reviewed Journals reporting a significant effect on mortality in intensive care unit septic adult patients; furthermore, we retrieved all the manuscripts dealing with sepsis or septic shock patients published in the last 3 years in the three medical Journals with the highest impact factor. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: We analyzed data from 12 multicenter randomized controlled trials (for a total of 5080 patients, 61% males) and from further 22 trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association (for a total of 493,066 patients, 54% males). Data on gender ratio in survivors were not available. CONCLUSIONS: Data from 34 large studies on 498,146 septic adult patients clearly showed a prevalence of males despite the expected female predominance. Further studies are required to explain the reasons, to evaluate if a difference is present in survival rate, and to identify gender-tailored preventive measures and treatments.
INTRODUCTION: The world population is mostly male at birth, although there is a shift in predominance over 55 years of age with more females than males. Male gender was recently hypothesized to be a risk factor for sepsis and septic shock; the reasons and the consequences of this odd discrepancy are yet a matter of debate. We investigated the percentage of males and females in a large number of trials performed on septic adult patients admitted to Intensive Care Units. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We analyzed all the multicenter randomized controlled trials ever published in peer-reviewed Journals reporting a significant effect on mortality in intensive care unit septic adult patients; furthermore, we retrieved all the manuscripts dealing with sepsis or septic shockpatients published in the last 3 years in the three medical Journals with the highest impact factor. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: We analyzed data from 12 multicenter randomized controlled trials (for a total of 5080 patients, 61% males) and from further 22 trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association (for a total of 493,066 patients, 54% males). Data on gender ratio in survivors were not available. CONCLUSIONS: Data from 34 large studies on 498,146 septic adult patients clearly showed a prevalence of males despite the expected female predominance. Further studies are required to explain the reasons, to evaluate if a difference is present in survival rate, and to identify gender-tailored preventive measures and treatments.
Authors: Martina Baiardo Redaelli; Giovanni Landoni; Davide Di Napoli; Federica Morselli; Marianna Sartorelli; Chiara Sartini; Annalisa Ruggeri; Andrea Salonia; Lorenzo Dagna; Alberto Zangrillo Journal: Saudi J Med Med Sci Date: 2020-12-15