Timely antibiotics after triage cuts mortality from septic shock

Study design

• Researchers analysed septic shock treatment data collected from 10 EDs (N=2250; mean age, 67.9 years; men, 58.4%) to assess associations between various intervals from triage to first antibiotic administration (≤1 hour, 1-2 hours, 2-3 hours, and >3 hours) and in-hospital mortality.
• Funding: Korean Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology; National Research Foundation of Korea.

Key results

• Overall in-hospital mortality was 22.8%; median time to first antibiotic administration was 2.29 hours.
• Among patients who received first antibiotics within 1-2 hours or >3 hours of triage, in-hospital mortality was significantly higher than in those who received them within 1 hour (OR, 1.248 [P=.011]; and OR, 1.419 [P<.001 respectively but this was not true for patients who received first antibiotics between and hours p=".052).</span">

Limitations

• This was a nonrandomised registry study.
• Unmeasured confounders may have affected the results.
• Outcomes varied by hospital.