• Ricard Ferrer, Ignacio Martin-Loeches, Gary Phillips, Tiffany M Osborn, Sean Townsend, R Phillip Dellinger, Antonio Artigas, Christa Schorr, and Mitchell M Levy.
• 1Department of Intensive Care, Mútua Terrassa University Hospital, CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias, Barcelona, Spain. 2Critical Care Center, Sabadell Hospital, CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias, Corporacion Sanitaria Universitaria Parc Tauli, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Sabadell, Spain. 3The Ohio State University Center for Biostatistics, Columbus, OH. 4Department of Surgery and Emergency Medicine, Division of Acute Care Surgery, Surgical/Trauma Critical Care, Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington University, St. Louis, MO. 5California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA. 6Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI. 7Cooper University Hospital, Camden, NJ.
• Crit. Care Med. 2014 Aug 1; 42 (8): 1749-55.

ObjectivesCompelling evidence has shown that aggressive resuscitation bundles, adequate source control, appropriate antibiotic therapy, and organ support are cornerstone for the success in the treatment of patients with sepsis. Delay in the initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy has been recognized as a risk factor for mortality. To perform a retrospective analysis on the Surviving Sepsis Campaign database to evaluate the relationship between timing of antibiotic administration and mortality.DesignRetrospective analysis of a large dataset collected prospectively for the Surviving Sepsis Campaign.SettingOne hundred sixty-five ICUs in Europe, the United States, and South America.PatientsA total of 28,150 patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, from January 2005 through February 2010, were evaluated.InterventionsAntibiotic administration and hospital mortality.Measurements And Main ResultsA total of 17,990 patients received antibiotics after sepsis identification and were included in the analysis. In-hospital mortality was 29.7% for the cohort as a whole. There was a statically significant increase in the probability of death associated with the number of hours of delay for first antibiotic administration. Hospital mortality adjusted for severity (sepsis severity score), ICU admission source (emergency department, ward, vs ICU), and geographic region increased steadily after 1 hour of time to antibiotic administration. Results were similar in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, regardless of the number of organ failure.ConclusionsThe results of the analysis of this large population of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock demonstrate that delay in first antibiotic administration was associated with increased in-hospital mortality. In addition, there was a linear increase in the risk of mortality for each hour delay in antibiotic administration. These results underscore the importance of early identification and treatment of septic patients in the hospital setting.

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