ArticlePloS one2020
Prognostic significance of body temperature in the emergency department vs the ICU in Patients with severe sepsis or septic shock: A nationwide cohort study.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Is age associated with different vital signs in adults presenting to hospital with bacterial infection? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Therapeutic Hyperthermia Is Associated With Improved Survival in Afebrile Critically Ill Patients With Sepsis: A Pilot Randomized Trial.Critical care medicine · 2022Trial
- The poikilothermic hypothesis of sepsis.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Review
- Body temperature as a dynamic host-response biomarker in sepsis: trajectories and time-varying mortality risk.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- The cycle of infectious fever - how it affects bacterial infections.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Respiratory National Early Warning Score for 28-day mortality prediction in suspected sepsis patients in the emergency department.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Temperature profiles in adult intensive care unit patients treated for infection in a tertiary intensive care unit: A single-centre prospective observational cohort study.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2025Article
- Sepsis in the absence of fever: Determining the criteria for and feasibility of future therapeutic temperature management trials.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2025Article
- Unique infrared thermographic profiles and altered hypothalamic neurochemistry associated with mortality in endotoxic shock.Experimental neurology · 2025Article
- Triage body temperature predicts outcome in cats at emergency department admission: a retrospective study of 1440 cases (January 2018 to December 2021).Journal of feline medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Long-term Mortality and Hospital Readmissions Among Survivors of Sepsis in Sweden: A Population-Based Cohort Study.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Apyrexia improves the prognostic value of quick SOFA in older patients with acute pneumonia or bacteremic urinary tract infection.Infection · 2023Article
- Effects of gruel feeding and oral dextrose on the survivability of pigs after weaning.Translational animal science · 2023Article
- Metformin attenuated sepsis-related liver injury by modulating gut microbiota.Emerging microbes & infections · 2022Article
- Metformin attenuated sepsis-associated liver injury and inflammatory response in aged mice.Bioengineered · 2022Article
- Cluster analysis integrating age and body temperature for mortality in patients with sepsis: a multicenter retrospective study.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Relationship between Dynamic Changes of Microcirculation Flow, Tissue Perfusion Parameters, and Lactate Level and Mortality of Septic Shock in ICU.Contrast media & molecular imaging · 2022Article
- Fever is associated with earlier antibiotic onset and reduced mortality in patients with sepsis admitted to the ICU.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIncreased body temperature in the Emergency Department (BT-ED) and the ICU (BT-ICU) is associated with lower mortality in patients with sepsis. Here, we compared how well BT-ED and BT-ICU predict mortality; investigated mortality in various combinations of BT-ED and BT-ICU, and; compared degree of fever in the ED and ICU and associated quality of care.
methods2385 adults who were admitted to an ICU within 24 hours of ED arrival with severe sepsis or septic shock were included.
resultsThirty-day mortality was 23.6%. Median BT-ED and BT-ICU was 38.1 and 37.6°C. Crude mortality decreased more than 5% points per°C increase for both BT-ED and BT-ICU. Adjusted OR for mortality was 0.82/°C increase for BT-ED (0.76-0.88, p < 0.001), and 0.89 for BT-ICU (0.83-0.95, p<0.001). Patients who were at/below median temperature in both the ED and in the ICU had the highest mortality, 32%, and those with over median in the ED and at/below in the ICU had the lowest, 16%, (p<0.001). Women had 0.2°C lower median BT-ED (p = 0.03) and 0.3°C lower BT-ICU (p<0.0001) than men. Older patients had lower BT in the ICU, but not in the ED. Fever was associated with a higher rate of sepsis bundle achievement in the ED, but lower nurse workload in the ICU.
conclusionsBT-ED was more useful to prognosticate mortality than BT-ICU. Despite better prognosis in patients with elevated BT, fever was associated with higher quality of care in the ED. Future studies should assess how BT-ED can be used to improve triage of infected patients, assigning higher priority to patients with low-grade/no fever and vice versa. Patients with at/below median BT in both ED and ICU have the highest mortality and should receive special attention. Different BT according to sex and age also needs further study.
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