Afebrile status at the time of emergency department visit is associated with delayed antibiotic therapy in patients with sepsis (revised).

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there is a difference in antibiotic administration time and prognosis in afebrile sepsis patients compared to febrile sepsis patients. METHODS: This was retrospective multicenter observational study. Data collected from three referral hospitals. Data were collected from May 2014 through February 2016 under the SEPSIS-2 criteria and from March 2016 to April 2020 under the newly released SEPSIS-3 criteria. Patients were divided into two groups based on body temperature: afebrile (<37.3 °C) and febrile (≥37.3 °C). The relationship between initial body temperature and 28-day mortality were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. The subgroup analysis was conducted on patients with complete Hour-1 bundle performance records. RESULTS: We included 4293 patients in this study. Initial body temperatures in 28-day survivors were significantly higher than in 28-day non-survivors (37.5 °C ± 1.2 °C versus 37.1 °C ± 1.2 °C, p < 0.01). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed in afebrile and febrile sepsis patients. Adjusted odds ratio of afebrile sepsis patients for 28-day mortality was 1.76 (95% Confidence interval 1.46-2.12). As a result of performing the Hour-1 bundle, the number of patients who received antibiotics within 1 h was smaller in the afebrile sepsis patients (323/2076, 15.6%) than in the febrile sepsis patients (395/2156, 18.3%) (p = 0.02). In the subgroup analysis of patients with complete Hour-1 bundle performance records adjusted odds ratio of afebrile sepsis patients for 28-day mortality was 1.68 (95% Confidence interval 1.34-2.11). The febrile sepsis patients received antibiotics faster than the afebrile sepsis patients (175.5 ± 207.9 versus 209.3 ± 277.9, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Afebrile sepsis patients were associated with higher 28-day mortality compared to their febrile counterparts and were delayed in receiving antibiotics. This underscores the need for improved early detection and treatment strategies for the afebrile sepsis patients.

Regional cerebral oxygen saturation in cardiac arrest survivors undergoing targeted temperature management 36 °C versus 33 °C: A randomized clinical trial.

AIM OF STUDY: To investigate whether regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) differs in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors undergoing targeted temperature management (TTM) 36 °C versus 33 °C. METHODS: A randomized clinical trial was conducted at intensive care units in two referral hospitals. Fifty-seven comatose OHCA survivors were randomized into either a 36 °C or 33 °C group. Patients were cooled and maintained at an oesophageal temperature of either 36 °C or 33 °C for 24 hours, rewarmed at a rate of 0.25 °C/hour, and maintained at <37.5 °C until 72 hours. During 72 hours of TTM, rSO2 was continuously monitored on the left forehead using near-infrared spectroscopy (INVOSTM 5100C). The rSO2 level at 72 hours was compared between the two groups. Next, serial rSO2 levels for 72 hours were compared using mixed effects regression. The association between rSO2 levels and 6-month neurological outcomes was also evaluated. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the rSO2 level at 72 hours between the 36 °C and 33 °C groups (p = 0.372). Furthermore, serial rSO2 levels for 72 hours of TTM were not different between the two groups (p = 0.733). However, low rSO2 levels, particularly at 24 hours of TTM, were significantly associated with poor 6-month neurological outcomes (odds ratio = 0.899, 95% confidence interval: 0.831-0.974). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the rSO2 level at 24 hours for poor neurological outcomes was 0.800. CONCLUSIONS: Regardless of target temperatures, low rSO2 levels during TTM were significantly associated with poor 6-month neurological outcomes in OHCA survivors.

Prognostic performance of Emergency Severity Index (ESI) combined with qSOFA score.

OBJECTIVE: We conducted this study to investigate whether ESI combined with qSOFA score (ESI+qSOFA) predicts hospital outcome better than ESI alone in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: This was a retrospective study for patients aged over 15years who visited an ED of a tertiary referral hospital from January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2015. We calculated and compared predictive performances of ESI alone and ESI+qSOFA for prespecified outcomes. The primary outcome was hospital mortality, and the secondary outcome was composite outcome of in-hospital mortality and ICU admission. We calculated in-hospital mortality rates by positive qSOFA in each subgroup divided according to ESI levels (1, 2, 3, 4+5). RESULTS: 43,748 patients were enrolled. The area under receiver-operating characteristics curves were higher in ESI+qSOFA than in ESI alone for both mortality and composite outcome (0.786 vs. 0.777, P<.001 for mortality; 0.778 vs. 0.774, P<.001 for composite outcome). In each subgroup divided by ESI levels, patients with positive qSOFA had significantly higher in-hospital mortality rate compared to those with negative qSOFA (20.4% vs. 14.7%, P=.117 in ESI level 1 subgroup; 11.3% vs. 2.7%, P=.001 in ESI level 2 subgroup; 2.3% vs. 0.4%, P<.001 in ESI level 3 subgroup; 0.0% vs. 0.0% in ESI level 4 or 5 subgroup). CONCLUSION: The prognostic performance of ESI+qSOFA for in-hospital mortality was significantly higher than that of ESI alone. Within each subgroup, patients with positive qSOFA had higher in-hospital mortality compared to those with negative qSOFA.