# Identifying pre-sepsis opportunities for early, targeted intervention

> **NIH NIH R35** · KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 2024 · $461,778

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Sepsis kills an estimated 11 million people worldwide every year. Sepsis also contributes to as many as 50%
of US hospital deaths. Early treatment is the only universally recognized modifiable factor for improving sepsis
mortality. Thus, current treatment guidelines focus heavily on early sepsis care immediately following hospital
presentation. However, today, little is known about even earlier, pre-hospital, opportunities to predict,
recognize, or treat sepsis. Our research program uses innovative translational informatics approaches to
elucidate the presentation, pace, and profile of infection in pre-sepsis patients that could enable novel pre-
hospital approaches designed to mitigate, or even prevent, sepsis. These pre-sepsis opportunities are now
being recognized as a key new frontier of sepsis research and care. In this renewal, we will extend successful
research that has begun to identify and characterize pre-sepsis opportunities for early, targeted intervention.
To achieve this goal, we will leverage granular electronic health record (EHR) data, advanced informatics and
artificial intelligence/machine learning methods, and the design of novel pre-sepsis care programs. Through
this proposal, we will rigorously test sepsis prediction models in key clinical subgroups, prospectively validate
the performance of pre-sepsis prediction models in real-time EHR platforms, and assess the value of additional
screening and diagnostic modalities for pre-sepsis risk stratification. Our findings will have broad and
immediate implications for patients, clinicians, and health systems to address this devastating condition. These
results will also inform the design of sepsis public health programs and future prospective interventional
studies aimed at improving outcomes for a condition that remains common, deadly, and costly.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10874403
- **Project number:** 5R35GM128672-07
- **Recipient organization:** KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Vincent Liu
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $461,778
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-01 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10874403

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10874403, Identifying pre-sepsis opportunities for early, targeted intervention (5R35GM128672-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10874403. Licensed CC0.

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