Introduction:

Sepsis is an avoidable infectious disease that affects 50 million people per year and causes 20% of deaths in the world. Likewise, the statistical register of these deaths present limitations that make it difficult for countries to make decisions for their reduction.

Objective:

To analyze mortality due to sepsis and potentially sepsis-associated causes in Argentina during the period 2005-2019.

Materials and methods:

Quantitative and descriptive research from a sociodemographic perspective. Specific mortality rates and Years of Life Lost were calculated and analyzed, based on data on deaths and births compiled by the Health Statistics and Information Office of Argentina and population estimates elaborated by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses.

Results:

The mortality due to sepsis decreased 18.8%. However, when considering, in addition, the deaths from sepsis-related causes, the mortality raised 30.6%, especially since the triennium 2011-2013. This growth took place in older people (14.1% among persons aged 45-64 and 28.3% among adults aged 65 years or over), mainly in women, and were especially influenced by Pneumonia and Peritonitis, among other causes. On the contrary, mortality is reduced in younger populations (46% among children under 1 year old, 36.5% among persons aged 1-14 and 15.8% among adults aged 25-44). Other differences were observed in the distribution of the mortality at subnational level considering its magnitude, composition and dynamics.

Conclusions:

The mortality due to sepsis dropped but the mortality due to sepsis plus sepsis-related causes increased. This increase affected mainly older populations, and Pneumonia and Peritonitis were the most common sepsis-related causes. There were also disparities in mortality at subnational level.

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