C-reactive protein as a prognostic factor in intensive care admissions for sepsis: A Swedish multicenter study

C-reactive protein (CRP) is not included in the major intensive care unit (ICU) prognostic tools such as the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS). We assessed CRP on ICU admission as a SAPS-3 independent risk marker for short-term mortality and length of stay (LOS) in ICU patients with sepsis.

Adult ICU admissions satisfying the Sepsis-3 criteria to four southern Swedish hospitals were retrospectively identified and divided into a low CRP group (<100 mg/L) and a high CRP group (>100 mg/L) based on the admission CRP level. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated.

A total of 851 admissions were included. The SMR was higher in the high CRP group (0.85 vs. 0.67, P = .001 in the whole sepsis group and 0.85 vs. 0.59, P = .003 in the culture-positive subgroup). The CRP levels also correlated with ICU and hospital LOS in survivors (P < .001 and P = .002), again independent of SAPS-3.

An admission CRP level >100 mg/L is associated with an increased risk of ICU and 30-day mortality as well as prolonged LOS in survivors, irrespective of morbidity measured with SAPS-3. Thus, CRP may be a simple, early marker for prognosis in ICU admissions for sepsis.