Short-Term Organ Dysfunction Is Associated With Long-Term (10-Yr) Mortality of Septic Shock

As mortality of septic shock decreases, new therapies focus on improving short-term organ dysfunction. However, it is not known whether short-term organ dysfunction is associated with long-term mortality of septic shock.

Retrospective single-center.

Mixed medical-surgical ICU.

One thousand three hundred and thirty-one patients with septic shock were included from 2000-2004. To remove the bias of 28-day nonsurvivors' obvious association with long-term mortality, we determined the associations of days alive and free of ventilation, vasopressors and renal replacement therapy in 28-day and 1-year survivors with 1-, 5- and 10-year mortality in unadjusted analyses and analyses adjusted for age, gender, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and presence of chronic comorbidities.

None.

Days alive and free of ventilation, vasopressors, and renal replacement therapy were highly significantly associated with 1-, 5-, and 10-year mortality (p < 0.0001). In 28-day survivors, using Bonferroni-corrected multiple logistic regression, days alive and free of ventilation (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0002, and p = 0.001), vasopressors (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.0004), and renal replacement therapy (p = 0.0008, p = 0.0008, and p = 0.0002) were associated with increased 1-, 5-, and 10-year mortality, respectively. In 1-year survivors, none of the acute organ support and dysfunction measures were associated with 5- and 10-year mortality.

Days alive and free of ventilation, vasopressors, and renal replacement therapy in septic shock in 28-day survivors was associated with 1-, 5-, and 10-year mortality. These associations are nullified in 1-year survivors in whom none of the acute organ support measures were associated with 5- and 10-year mortality. This suggests that therapies that decrease short-term organ dysfunction could also improve long-term outcomes of 28-day survivors of septic shock.