The Association Between Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Scores and Mortality in Patients With Sepsis During the First Week: The JSEPTIC DIC Study

Predicting prognosis is a complex process, particularly in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores for individual organs during the first week of admission and the in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis.

This study was a post hoc evaluation of the Japan Septic Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation study and included patients admitted to 42 intensive care units in Japan for severe sepsis or septic shock, between January 2011 and December 2013. We assessed the relationship between the organ and total SOFA scores on days 1, 3, and 7 following admission and the in-hospital mortality using logistic regression analysis.

We evaluated 2732 patients and found the in-hospital mortality rate was 29.1%. The mean age of the patients (standard deviation) was 70.5 (14.1) years, and the major primary site of infection was the abdomen (33.6%). The central nervous system (CNS) SOFA score exhibited the strongest relationship with mortality on days 1 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.49, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.40-1.59), 3 (aOR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.62-1.89), and 7 (aOR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.77-2.10). The coagulation SOFA scores showed a weak correlation with mortality on day 1, but a strong correlation with mortality on day 7 (aOR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.87-2.24).

The CNS SOFA scores were associated with mortality in patients with severe sepsis on days 1, 3, and 7 following hospitalization. The coagulation SOFA score was associated with mortality on day 7. In clinical situations, the CNS SOFA scores during the acute phase and the CNS SOFA and coagulation SOFA scores during the subsequent phases should be evaluated in order to determine patient prognosis.