JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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To examine the incidence, risk factors, and outcome of severe sepsis in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. ⋯ Only three of four patients presenting with clinically suspected severe sepsis have documented infection. However, patients with clinically suspected sepsis but without microbiological documentation and patients with documented infection share common risk factors and are at similarly high risk of death. In addition to the severity of illness score, acute organ failures and the characteristics of underlying diseases should be accounted for in stratification of patients and outcome analyses.