Characteristics and outcomes of culture-negative versus culture-positive severe sepsis

Phua, Jason; Ngerng, Wang Jee; See, Kay Choong; Tay, Chee Kiang; Kiong, Timothy; Lim, Hui Fang; Chew, Mei Ying; Yip, Hwee Seng; Tan, Adeline; Khalizah, Haji Jamil; Capistrano, Rolando; Lee, Kang Hoe; Mukhopadhyay, Amartya

doi:10.1186/cc12896

Critical Care

Table 1 Characteristics at baseline and on day one of intensive care unit admission.

From: Characteristics and outcomes of culture-negative versus culture-positive severe sepsis

	Culture-negative patients (n= 415)	Culture-positive patients (n= 586)	P value
Demographics
Age, years	62.0 (50.0-74.0)	64.0 (50.1-74.0)	0.62
Men	236 (56.9)	375 (64.0)	0.02
Race			0.09
Chinese	229 (55.2)	358 (61.1)
Malay	106 (25.5)	120 (20.5)
Indian	56 (13.5)	64 (10.9)
Others	24 (5.8)	44 (7.5)
Source of admission			0.49
Emergency department	195 (47.0)	257 (43.9)
Hospital floor	195 (47.0)	293 (50.0)
Other ICU	25 (6.0)	34 (5.8)
Operating room/recovery	0 (0)	2 (0.3)
Time of ICU admission
Day of hospital admission	0 (0-2.00)	0 (0-2.00)	0.38
Office hour admission	166 (40.0)	260 (44.4)	0.17
Comorbid conditions
Diabetes mellitus	141 (34.0)	234 (39.9)	0.06
Chronic heart failure	22 (5.3)	40 (6.8)	0.32
Chronic kidney disease	48 (11.6)	96 (16.4)	0.03
COPD	24 (5.8)	38 (6.5)	0.65
Cancer	29 (7.0)	55 (9.4)	0.18
Hematological malignancy	9 (2.2)	24 (4.1)	0.09
No. of comorbid conditions^a			0.004
0	214 (51.6)	241 (41.1)
1	136 (32.8)	225 (38.4)
2	59 (14.2)	98 (16.7)
≥3	6 (1.4)	22 (3.8)
Vital signs upon ICU admission
Temperature, °C	37.0 (36.0-38.0)	37 (36.2-38.0)	0.29
Heart rate, /min	107.3 ± 27.5	113.4 ± 25.9	<0.001
Mean blood pressure, mm Hg	78.0 (64.0-96.0)	75.0 (62.0-91.0)	0.01
Respiratory rate, /min	24.0 (20.0-31.0)	25.0 (20.0-31.0)	0.84
Investigations^b
White blood cell, 10⁹/L	13.27 (9.18-19.47)	13.44 (6.58-19.65)	0.19
Procalcitonin, ng/mL	3.95 (0.90-17.28)	16.40 (2.74-47.03)	<0.001
C-reactive protein, mg/L	47.50 (14.05-191.50)	51.50 (11.63-181.50)	0.53
Severity scores
APACHE II	25.0 (19.0-32.0)	27.0 (21.0-33.0)	0.001
Acute Physiology Score	20.0 (14.0-26.0)	22.0 (16.8-28.3)	<0.001
SOFA	9.0 (6.0-12.0)	10.0 (8.0-13.0)	<0.001
Organ failure^c
Renal	88 (21.2)	127 (21.7)	0.86
Respiratory	239 (57.6)	344 (58.7)	0.73
Cardiovascular	205 (49.4)	360 (61.4)	<0.001
Central nervous system	142 (34.2)	241 (41.1)	0.03
Coagulation	31 (7.5)	66 (11.3)	0.046
Hepatic	15 (3.6)	37 (6.3)	0.06
Treatment on day one in the ICU
Vasoactive agents	247 (59.5)	432 (73.7)	<0.001
Mechanical ventilation	315 (75.9)	469 (80.0)	0.12
Renal replacement therapy	37 (8.9)	51 (8.7)	0.91
Glucocorticoids for septic shock	104 (25.1)	143 (24.4)	0.81

^aCulture-negative patients were more likely to have no comorbidities than culture-positive patients (P = 0.001, significant after Bonferroni correction); ^bwhite blood cell values available for all patients; procalcitonin values available for 266 culture-negative and 359 culture-positive patients; C-reactive protein values available for 120 culture-negative patients and 174 culture-positive patients; ^corgan failure defined as SOFA score >2 for the specified organ. ICU, intensive care unit; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; APACHE, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation; SOFA, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment.

Back to article page

ISSN: 1364-8535

Contact us

Submission enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com