Scoring systems for the characterization of sepsis and associated outcomes.

Sepsis is responsible for the utilisation of a significant proportion of healthcare resources and has high mortality rates. Early diagnosis and prompt interventions are associated with better outcomes but is impeded by a lack of diagnostic tools and the heterogeneous and enigmatic nature of sepsis. The recently updated definitions of sepsis have moved away from the centrality of inflammation and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria which have been shown to be non-specific.