Risk factors for the prognosis of patients with sepsis in intensive care units

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To date, sepsis remains the main cause of mortality in intensive care units (ICU). This study aimed analyze the risk factors of the prognosis in sepsis patients. METHODS: In this case-control study, patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit of a Chinese hospital between January and November 2020 were analyzed. Ultrasound and clinical data were analyzed and compared between non-survivors and survivors. The ROC curve analysis was also performed to determine the best indicator for predicting mortality. RESULTS: A total of 72 patients with sepsis in ICU were included for analysis. The basic characteristics between the survivals and non-survivals were similar, except for acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) Ⅱ score, sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, lactate level, ultrasound parameters from superior mesenteric artery (SMA) such as peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV) and resistive index (RI). Univariate analysis revealed that the APACHE Ⅱ score, SOFA score, lactate, low PSV, EDV, and RI were potential risk factors for mortality in sepsis, while multivariate analysis suggested that low PSV was an independent risk factor for mortality, and the adjusted odds ratio was 0.295 (95% CI: 0.094–0.925). The ROC analysis showed that the PSV (AUC = 0.99; sensitivity and specificity were 0.99 and 0.96, respectively) had good predictive value for mortality in sepsis. CONCLUSION: Low PSV as found to be an independent risk factor and good predictor for mortality in patients with sepsis. This study shows the promise of ultrasound in predicting mortality in patients with sepsis; however, further studies are needed to validate these results.