Sepsis Criteria and Revision in Toxicological Intensive Care Unit

Sepsis is one of the significant causes of mortality in hospitalized patients. This cross-sectional study was performed to determine the frequency of positive blood culture and assess sepsis criteria based on Third International Consensus Definitions (related to Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score) and clinical and paraclinical findings (i.e., on-admission leukocytosis, increased lactate level, and fever) in poisoned patients admitted to the Toxicological Intensive Care Unit (TICU).

Medical records of a total of 2000 poisoned patients admitted to the TICU of Loghman Hakim Hospital from 2016 to 2018 were assessed. Among them, 189 cases (9.45%) with suspected sepsis were considered eligible to be enrolled in the study.

Of 189 cases, 146 (77.24%) had possible signs and symptoms of sepsis as well as SOFA score higher than two with positive blood culture in 81 cases (55%). The Mean±SD serum level of lactate was 25.97±16.32 on admission. The most common pathogen detected in blood culture was coagulase-negative Staphylococci in 35 (24.0%) out of 146 cases. Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) less than 12, age older than 50 years, and bilirubin more than 1.2 mg/dL were found as independent predictors of sepsis on multivariate analysis.

Based on our findings, it is proposed that the sepsis definition should not be restricted to the guidelines. The patients’ poisoning background and presence of many confounding factors, including poisoning-induced on-admission increased lactate levels, leukocytosis, and disturbed arterial blood gas provide a critical decision-making situation to confirm sepsis according to guidelines.