Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33407768›Full record

Observational studyCritical care (London, England)2021

Characteristics and clinical outcomes of culture-negative and culture-positive septic shock: a single-center retrospective cohort study.

June-Sung Kim, Youn-Jung Kim, Won Young Kim

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in Critical care (London, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
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  4. The Ability of NEWS2 to Detect Sepsis in Adult Patients With Positive Blood Cultures.APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica · 2025
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  15. The value of plasma presepsin as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for sepsis in Southern China.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2023
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  16. Modification of Initial Empirical Antibiotic Prescription and its Impact on Patient Outcome: Experience of an Indian Intensive Care Unit.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

June-Sung KimDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil., Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Korea.
Youn-Jung KimDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil., Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Korea.
Won Young KimDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil., Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Korea. wonpia73@naver.com.ORCID 0000-0002-6904-5966

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWe evaluated the characteristics and outcomes of culture-negative versus culture-positive septic shock.

methodsWe performed a retrospective observational study of data from a prospective registry from 2014 to 2018. A total of 2,499 adult patients with septic shock were enrolled. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality, and the secondary outcomes were the length of hospital stay, a requirement for mechanical ventilation or renal replacement therapy, and in-hospital mortality.

resultsOf 1,718 patients with septic shock, 1,012 (58.9%) patients were culture-positive (blood 803, urine 302, sputum 102, others 204) and the median pathogen detection time was 9.5 h (aerobic 10.2 h and anaerobic 9.0 h). The most common site of culture-positive infection was the hepatobiliary tract (39.5%), while for the culture-negative it was the lower respiratory tract (38.2%). The culture-negative group had a lower mean body temperature (37.3 vs 37.7 ℃), lactate (2.5 vs. 3.2 mmol/L), C-reactive protein (11.1 vs 11.9 mg/dL), and sequential organ failure assessment score (7.0 vs. 8.0) than that of the culture-positive group. However, 90-day mortality between the groups was not significantly different (32.7 vs 32.2%, p = 0.83), and the other clinical outcomes also did not differ significantly. Moreover, a shorter culture detection time was correlated with a higher sequential organ failure assessment score but not with mortality.

conclusionPatients with septic shock are frequently culture-negative, especially in cases where the infection focus is in the lower respiratory tract. Although culture-negative was associated with a degree of organ dysfunction, it was not an independent predictor of death.

Indexed as

AgedBlood CultureCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedOrgan Dysfunction ScoresOutcome Assessment, Health CarePrognosisRetrospective StudiesShock, SepticCultureMortalitySepsisSeptic shockTime to blood culture positivity

Identifiers

PMID33407768
PMCPMC7787242

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.