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Although body temperature is no longer part of current sepsis criteria (JW Gen Med Mar 15 2016 and JAMA 2016; 315:801), its prognostic value is unknown. In a retrospective cohort of 5500 adults admitted to a Boston hospital with sepsis, investigators evaluated patient prognosis based on temperature patterns in the 12 hours after emergency department (ED) arrival. All patients received antibiotics within 12 hours of ED arrival.
Key findings were as follows:
Most patients were consistently normothermic (74%) or became so after initial fever (T≥38.0°C; 14%); 11% developed fever after arrival, and 1% had persistent hypothermia (T<36.0°C).
In-hospital mortality was highest with hypothermia (38%) and lowest with any fever (10%).
Patients with hypothe…