Cardiovascular Factors Associated with Septic Shock Mortality Risks

The presence of at least one underlying chronic health condition, such as long-term care facility residence, malnutrition, immunosuppression, or prosthetic device use, are well known factors increasing infection risks and progression to severe sepsis. Furthermore, some degree of cardiovascular dysfunction occurs in the majority of septic patients and this prognostic significance has become increasingly recognized. Since septic shock carries the highest mortality risk on the sepsis spectrum, it is important to evaluate the cardiovascular risk impact on mortality in this subset of patients.

The retrospective parent study contributing these electronic health record data was IRB approved and conducted across four hospital intensive care units within the authors' Michigan healthcare system. Patients with cardiopulmonary arrest or transfers from an outside facility were excluded. The authors evaluated the presence of modifiable and non-modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in septic shock patients upon admission to an emergency department.

The authors' final analytic sample included n = 109 adults who were discharged alive compared to those who died during hospitalization. Those patients who died were more often male with an underlying history of hypertension, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, or peripheral arterial diseases, were taking pre-admission beta-blocker medications, and had higher APACHE II scores at admission compared to the patients who survived to discharge. Significantly higher mortality risks were found in sample patients with increased troponin levels on admission and atrial fibrillation.

Appropriate triage and prompt treatment of these patient groups with tailored therapy to stabilize and improve cardiac dysfunction in the emergency department could potentially lead to improved survival outcomes. Clinicians need more studies to determine therapeutic targets most impacting underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms such as elevated troponin and atrial fibrillation that greatly increase mortality risks.