Editing Sepsis (section)

== Prognosis ==
Sepsis will prove fatal in approximately 24.4% of people, and septic shock will prove fatal in 34.7% of people within 30 days (32.2% and 38.5% after 90 days).<ref name="pmid32430052"/>
Lactate is a useful method of determining prognosis, with those who have a level greater than 4&nbsp;mmol/L having a mortality of 40% and those with a level of less than 2&nbsp;mmol/L having a mortality of less than 15%.<ref name=Soong2012 />

There are a number of prognostic stratification systems, such as [[APACHE II]] and Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis. APACHE II factors in the person's age, underlying condition, and various physiologic variables to yield estimates of the risk of dying of severe sepsis. Of the individual covariates, the severity of the underlying disease most strongly influences the risk of death. Septic shock is also a strong predictor of short- and long-term mortality. Case-fatality rates are similar for culture-positive and culture-negative severe sepsis. The Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score is simpler and useful in the emergency department environment.<ref name=Carpenter2009/>

Some people may experience severe long-term cognitive decline following an episode of severe sepsis, but the absence of baseline neuropsychological data in most people with sepsis makes the incidence of this difficult to quantify or study.<ref name=Jackson2009/>