Sepsis is not, strictly speaking, an age-related condition. It can occur at any age, the result of bacterial infection leading to a feedback loop of runaway inflammatory signaling. Older individuals exhibit greater risk and greater severity of sepsis, however. The aged tissue environment and immune system is biased towards greater inflammation, and the immune system is less able to control bacterial infections. Given an infection leading towards sepsis, an older individual is less able to resist suffering a worse outcome. Senescent cells provide one contribution to the chronic inflammation of aging, but as noted here, changes in the gut microbiome<…
Aging of the Gut Microbiome Contributes to Severity of Sepsis
Sepsis is not, strictly speaking, an age-related condition. It can occur at any age, the result of bacterial infection leading to a feedback loop of runaway inflammatory signaling. Older individuals exhibit greater risk and greater severity of sepsis, however. The aged tissue environment and immune system is biased towards greater inflammation, and the immune system is less able to control bacterial infections. Given an infection leading towards sepsis, an older individual is less able to resist suffering a worse outcome. Senescent cells provide one contribution to the chronic inflammation of aging, but as noted here, changes in the gut microbiome<…