UCLA

Delayed identification and treatment of septic shock is associated with increased mortality. A retrospective chart review was performed on patients admitted with hematologic malignancies in 2010 (188 control patients and 7 patients that developed septic shock). A mixed effects multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine if typical clinical biomarkers (vitals signs and routine laboratory studies) could be used to predict the development of septic shock in patients with hematologic malignancies prior to transfer to the intensive care unit. While routine vital signs could be used to differentiate control patients from patients that developed septic shock even at 4 hours prior to intensive care transfer (AUC of 0.967), routine laboratory studies performed significantly worse (AUC of 0.761).