Normothermia in Patients With Sepsis Who Present to Emergency Departments Is Associated With Low Compliance With Sepsis Bundles and Increased In-Hospital Mortality Rate*

Objectives: To investigate the impact of normothermia on compliance with sepsis bundles and in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis who present to emergency departments. Design: Retrospective multicenter observational study. Patients: Nineteen university-affiliated hospitals of the Korean Sepsis Alliance participated in this study. Data were collected regarding patients who visited emergency departments for sepsis during the 1-month period. The patients were divided into three groups based on their body temperature at the time of triage in the emergency department (i.e., hypothermia [< 36 degrees C] vs normothermia [36-38 degrees C] vs hyperthermia [> 38 degrees C]). Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Of 64,021 patients who visited emergency departments, 689 with community-acquired sepsis were analyzed (182 hyperthermic, 420 normothermic, and 87 hypothermic patients). The rate of compliance with the total hour-1 bundle was lowest in the normothermia group (6.0% vs 9.3% in hyperthermia vs 13.8% in hypothermia group;p= 0.032), the rate for lactate measurement was lowest in the normothermia group (62.1% vs 73.1% vs 75.9%;p= 0.005), and the blood culture rate was significantly lower in the normothermia than in the hyperthermia group (p< 0.001). The in-hospital mortality rates in the hyperthermia, normothermia, and hypothermia groups were 8.5%, 20.6%, and 30.8%, respectively (p< 0.001), but there was no significant association between compliance with sepsis bundles and in-hospital mortality. However, in a multivariate analysis, compared with hyperthermia, normothermia was significantly associated with an increased in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 2.472; 95% CI, 1.005-6.080). This association remained significant even after stratifying patients by median lactate level. Conclusions: Normothermia at emergency department triage was significantly associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality and a lower rate of compliance with the sepsis bundle. Despite several limitations, our findings suggest a need for new strategies to improve sepsis outcomes in this group of patients.