Prognostic implications of serum lipid metabolism over time during sepsis

Background. Despite extensive research and an improved standard of care, sepsis remains a disorder with a high mortality rate. Sepsis is accompanied by severe metabolic alterations. Methods. We evaluated 117 patients with sepsis (severe sepsis [n=19] and septic shock [n=98]) who were admitted to the intensive care unit. Serum cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), free fatty acid (FFA), and apolipoprotein (Apo) A-I levels were measured on days 0, 1, 3, and 7. Results. Nonsurvivors had low levels of cholesterol, TG, HDL, LDL, and Apo A-I on days 0, 1, 3, and 7. In a linear mixed model analysis, the variations in TG, LDL, FFA, and Apo A-I levels over time differed significantly between the groups (p=0.043, p=0.020, p=0.005, and p=0.015, resp.). According to multivariate analysis, TG levels and SOFA scores were associated with mortality on days 0 and 1 (p=0.018 and p=0.008, resp.). Conclusions. Our study illustrated that TG levels are associated with mortality in patients with sepsis. This may be attributable to alterations in serum lipid metabolism during sepsis, thus modulating the host response to inflammation in critically ill patients.