comprising three members. Negative predictive values were at least 0.89, according to the researchers.
Overall, the findings show “good reliability,” wrote Dr. Miller of the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and his colleagues.
Dr. Daniel R. Ouellette
The test produced scores in four bands, with scores at or above 3.1 considered to be evidence of infection. Lower levels were considered to be evidence of noninfection.
Dr. Miller and his coauthors reported that 86% of patients unanimously considered to have sepsis had scores above 3.1. In contrast, only 30% of those considered to have SIRS had such high scores.
In addition, the study authors determined that the test was more reliable than were the clinical signs and laboratory variables that are commonly used to diagnose sepsis within 24 hours of arrival at the ICU.
Reaching a definitive sepsis diagnosis is challenging based on clinical signs alone, since various conditions mimic the signs of sepsis, noted Dr. Ouellette of Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
In some cases, physicians simply assume that a patient has sepsis and begin antibiotics, he said, “but that’s not a free ride. Each [antibiotic] may produce side effects with consequences for patients. The other problem is that overuse of antibiotics leads to resistance.”
The study by Dr. Miller and his colleagues combined the results of three trials conducted from during 2011-2016 in the United States and the Netherlands in 447 subjects.