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Prognostic significance of body temperature in the emergency department vs the ICU in Patients with severe sepsis or septic shock : A nationwide cohort study

Inghammar, Malin LU and Sunden-Cullberg, Jonas (2020) In PLoS ONE 15(12 December).
Abstract

Background Increased body temperature in the Emergency Department (BT-ED) and the ICU (BT-ICU) is associated with lower mortality in patients with sepsis. Here, we compared how well BTED and BT-ICU predict mortality; investigated mortality in various combinations of BT-ED and BT-ICU, and; compared degree of fever in the ED and ICU and associated quality of care. Methods 2385 adults who were admitted to an ICU within 24 hours of ED arrival with severe sepsis or septic shock were included. Results Thirty-day mortality was 23.6%. Median BT-ED and BT-ICU was 38.1 and 37.6°C. Crude mortality decreased more than 5% points per°C increase for both BT-ED and BT-ICU. Adjusted OR for mortality was 0.82/°C increase for BT-ED (0.76-0.88, p <... (More)

Background Increased body temperature in the Emergency Department (BT-ED) and the ICU (BT-ICU) is associated with lower mortality in patients with sepsis. Here, we compared how well BTED and BT-ICU predict mortality; investigated mortality in various combinations of BT-ED and BT-ICU, and; compared degree of fever in the ED and ICU and associated quality of care. Methods 2385 adults who were admitted to an ICU within 24 hours of ED arrival with severe sepsis or septic shock were included. Results Thirty-day mortality was 23.6%. Median BT-ED and BT-ICU was 38.1 and 37.6°C. Crude mortality decreased more than 5% points per°C increase for both BT-ED and BT-ICU. Adjusted OR for mortality was 0.82/°C increase for BT-ED (0.76-0.88, p < 0.001), and 0.89 for BT-ICU (0.83-0.95, p<0.001). Patients who were at/below median temperature in both the ED and in the ICU had the highest mortality, 32%, and those with over median in the ED and at/below in the ICU had the lowest, 16%, (p<0.001). Women had 0.2°C lower median BT-ED (p = 0.03) and 0.3°C lower BT-ICU (p<0.0001) than men. Older patients had lower BT in the ICU, but not in the ED. Fever was associated with a higher rate of sepsis bundle achievement in the ED, but lower nurse workload in the ICU. Conclusions BT-ED was more useful to prognosticate mortality than BT-ICU. Despite better prognosis in patients with elevated BT, fever was associated with higher quality of care in the ED. Future studies should assess how BT-ED can be used to improve triage of infected patients, assigning higher priority to patients with low-grade/no fever and vice versa. Patients with at/ below median BT in both ED and ICU have the highest mortality and should receive special attention. Different BT according to sex and age also needs further study.

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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
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PLoS ONE
volume
15
issue
12 December
article number
e0243990
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85098952696
  • pmid:33373376
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0243990
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bc936c14-6b10-468d-a886-1d2dcb8cb9e9
date added to LUP
2021-01-21 13:38:15
date last changed
2024-04-18 00:58:39
@article{bc936c14-6b10-468d-a886-1d2dcb8cb9e9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background Increased body temperature in the Emergency Department (BT-ED) and the ICU (BT-ICU) is associated with lower mortality in patients with sepsis. Here, we compared how well BTED and BT-ICU predict mortality; investigated mortality in various combinations of BT-ED and BT-ICU, and; compared degree of fever in the ED and ICU and associated quality of care. Methods 2385 adults who were admitted to an ICU within 24 hours of ED arrival with severe sepsis or septic shock were included. Results Thirty-day mortality was 23.6%. Median BT-ED and BT-ICU was 38.1 and 37.6°C. Crude mortality decreased more than 5% points per°C increase for both BT-ED and BT-ICU. Adjusted OR for mortality was 0.82/°C increase for BT-ED (0.76-0.88, p &lt; 0.001), and 0.89 for BT-ICU (0.83-0.95, p&lt;0.001). Patients who were at/below median temperature in both the ED and in the ICU had the highest mortality, 32%, and those with over median in the ED and at/below in the ICU had the lowest, 16%, (p&lt;0.001). Women had 0.2°C lower median BT-ED (p = 0.03) and 0.3°C lower BT-ICU (p&lt;0.0001) than men. Older patients had lower BT in the ICU, but not in the ED. Fever was associated with a higher rate of sepsis bundle achievement in the ED, but lower nurse workload in the ICU. Conclusions BT-ED was more useful to prognosticate mortality than BT-ICU. Despite better prognosis in patients with elevated BT, fever was associated with higher quality of care in the ED. Future studies should assess how BT-ED can be used to improve triage of infected patients, assigning higher priority to patients with low-grade/no fever and vice versa. Patients with at/ below median BT in both ED and ICU have the highest mortality and should receive special attention. Different BT according to sex and age also needs further study. </p>}},
  author       = {{Inghammar, Malin and Sunden-Cullberg, Jonas}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12 December}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Prognostic significance of body temperature in the emergency department vs the ICU in Patients with severe sepsis or septic shock : A nationwide cohort study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243990}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0243990}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}