Context

The relative incidence and mortality of shock varies greatly depending on the population and the cause.

Worldwide, the greatest number of deaths from shock probably occurs in children under five years old. This is due to hypovolaemia as a result of diarrhoeal illness: UNICEF estimates the figures to be about 2 million per year [1].

By contrast, the Office of National Statistics (2005) recorded about 25 deaths from diarrhoeal illness in the same age group in the UK in 2005 [2].

Anaphylaxis causes about 20 deaths per year in the UK [3].

Severe sepsis is estimated to affect 0.3% of the US population/year with a mortality of 28.6%. This equates to 215,000 deaths/year [4].

Cardiogenic shock has an even higher mortality of 50-90% [5].