Abstract
Mortality in newborn infants and children with sepsis is high with survival rates
of generally more than 50% in recent studies. Longitudinal follow-up studies have
the potential to reveal short-term and lifelong physical, mental, and psychological
sequelae. Although no comprehensive follow-up research has yet been performed, a small
number of follow-up studies have shown that there is a considerable impact on the
patients' lives and their families after hospital discharge. Health-related quality
of life also seems to be affected; however, it does not correlate with severity of
sepsis or handicap per se. Prematurely born infants, who can develop sequelae directly
attributable to prematurity and its consequences, suffer differently from sepsis-related
lifelong sequelae compared with older children. Fortunately, time may heal some wounds
due to the effect of growth in children. In future, large centers should establish
structural follow-up programs for clinical and research purposes to learn more about
the needs of affected children and their families.
Keywords
sepsis - septic shock - follow-up - newborn infants - children - review
